RecordingRangpur
Nirmalendu Mitra Thakur and I had a conversation over the telephone on 19 January 2021.
01:51
About this recording
- Title as given by the source
- Nirmalendu Mitra Thakur and I had a conversation over the telephone on 19 January 2021. The starting point of the discussion was Ranjan Shaha’s song ‘Amar nai paarer kori, dayamoy Hori, paar koro nijo gune’. I asked Nirmalda to tell me the story of Hori or Krishna taking Radha across the river, to see whether what I had written down of Ranjan Shaha’s song—what I thought I heard in that recording, under its layers of noise—made any sense or not. Nirmalda says, ‘Sri Krishna, the boatman, is taking Radharani and her sakhis across the river. The cowherd maidens led by Sri Radhika come to the shore and ask Krishna to take them across. Radha says she has no money. There is some haggling—he asks for sholo ana [sixteen anas make a whole taka], he asks for all. She says I don’t have sholo ana to give, I can at best give half, I can give aat ana.’ Nirmalda shies to tell me details of this story with its erotic symbolism. There are implied meanings, they are talking about both deho (body) and mon (mind), after all. Radha and Krishna are playing with words, he is propositioning to her and she and the girls and the old woman escorting them are dodging his advances with clever retorts. Nirmalda says some, hides some, sings some, and laughs some. I cannot ask very directly either. There is a curtain between us in this exchange, and the listener will hear it fluttering in the breeze in this conversation. ‘Well, I mean, is there anything about bastra or clothes in this story? I thought I heard the word in that other song,’ I ask. ‘Indeed there is,’ Nirmalda says. ‘Sri Krishna says your blue sari is inviting the rain clouds, if the rain comes our boat will sink. You need to take it off. Radharani says, what about your blue body? Can you shed that too?’ Nirmalda says, ‘This is all about leela or divine play, you know.’
- Place
- RangpurLocation is approximate — known to district level.
- Date
- Date unknown
- Collection
- The Travelling Archive
- Persistent ID
- BDMA-R-000361
Rights
The Travelling Archive's own material is used by permission with credit, for non-commercial streaming. Third-party material requires separate permission. No downloads; essays are excerpt-only until confirmed.
Cite this recording
- APA
- Nirmalendu Mitra Thakur and I had a conversation over the telephone on 19 January 2021. The starting point of the discussion was Ranjan Shaha’s song ‘Amar nai paarer kori, dayamoy Hori, paar koro nijo gune’. I asked Nirmalda to tell me the story of Hori or Krishna taking Radha across the river, to see whether what I had written down of Ranjan Shaha’s song—what I thought I heard in that recording, under its layers of noise—made any sense or not. Nirmalda says, ‘Sri Krishna, the boatman, is taking Radharani and her sakhis across the river. The cowherd maidens led by Sri Radhika come to the shore and ask Krishna to take them across. Radha says she has no money. There is some haggling—he asks for sholo ana [sixteen anas make a whole taka], he asks for all. She says I don’t have sholo ana to give, I can at best give half, I can give aat ana.’ Nirmalda shies to tell me details of this story with its erotic symbolism. There are implied meanings, they are talking about both deho (body) and mon (mind), after all. Radha and Krishna are playing with words, he is propositioning to her and she and the girls and the old woman escorting them are dodging his advances with clever retorts. Nirmalda says some, hides some, sings some, and laughs some. I cannot ask very directly either. There is a curtain between us in this exchange, and the listener will hear it fluttering in the breeze in this conversation. ‘Well, I mean, is there anything about bastra or clothes in this story? I thought I heard the word in that other song,’ I ask. ‘Indeed there is,’ Nirmalda says. ‘Sri Krishna says your blue sari is inviting the rain clouds, if the rain comes our boat will sink. You need to take it off. Radharani says, what about your blue body? Can you shed that too?’ Nirmalda says, ‘This is all about leela or divine play, you know.’. (n.d.). The Travelling Archive. Shurer Manchitra. https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000361 Original: https://www.thetravellingarchive.org/listening-ranjan-shaha/
- Chicago
- "Nirmalendu Mitra Thakur and I had a conversation over the telephone on 19 January 2021. The starting point of the discussion was Ranjan Shaha’s song ‘Amar nai paarer kori, dayamoy Hori, paar koro nijo gune’. I asked Nirmalda to tell me the story of Hori or Krishna taking Radha across the river, to see whether what I had written down of Ranjan Shaha’s song—what I thought I heard in that recording, under its layers of noise—made any sense or not. Nirmalda says, ‘Sri Krishna, the boatman, is taking Radharani and her sakhis across the river. The cowherd maidens led by Sri Radhika come to the shore and ask Krishna to take them across. Radha says she has no money. There is some haggling—he asks for sholo ana [sixteen anas make a whole taka], he asks for all. She says I don’t have sholo ana to give, I can at best give half, I can give aat ana.’ Nirmalda shies to tell me details of this story with its erotic symbolism. There are implied meanings, they are talking about both deho (body) and mon (mind), after all. Radha and Krishna are playing with words, he is propositioning to her and she and the girls and the old woman escorting them are dodging his advances with clever retorts. Nirmalda says some, hides some, sings some, and laughs some. I cannot ask very directly either. There is a curtain between us in this exchange, and the listener will hear it fluttering in the breeze in this conversation. ‘Well, I mean, is there anything about bastra or clothes in this story? I thought I heard the word in that other song,’ I ask. ‘Indeed there is,’ Nirmalda says. ‘Sri Krishna says your blue sari is inviting the rain clouds, if the rain comes our boat will sink. You need to take it off. Radharani says, what about your blue body? Can you shed that too?’ Nirmalda says, ‘This is all about leela or divine play, you know.’." Recorded in Rangpur. n.d. The Travelling Archive. Shurer Manchitra, BDMA-R-000361. https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000361. Original at https://www.thetravellingarchive.org/listening-ranjan-shaha/.
- Persistent URL
- https://shurer-manchitra.pages.dev/en/recordings/BDMA-R-000361