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Hareya Ni Maaye

This particular song is sung at the birth of a son, as well as at his marriage. It celebrates and acknowledges the different women of the family who have raised, loved, interacted with, nurtured and been present in the life of the young man. He is reminded of his duty to the midwife, to his sister, to his aunt. The gardeners wife was the one who brought the flowers that would become the sehra or headdress of the groom.

Harreya: Lit. green. Also fresh, flourishing, abundant, fruitful and having offspring. In an agricultural society land that was green was fruitful and meant prosperity and good fortune to the family, as did the birth of a son.

A son, mother! A son, sister!
A son, and good fortune is with us!
The day that my son was born,
Was the day of our good fortune.

When he was born, he was swaddled with cloth.
A gift for the midwife!
Bathed and cleaned he was wrapped in clothes.
A gift for his sisters!
What does the midwife get?
What do his sisters get?
Five ruppees for the midwife.
New clothes for his sisters!

Fortunate is your good mother,
Whose son you are.
Fortunate is your good chachi,
Who celebrates your marriage.
Fortunate is your good sister,
Who played with you.
Fortunate is your maasi,
Who sings of your virtues.

The gardener’s wife comes down the street asking,
Which one is the marriage house?
The one with the red tent, the green walls,
And the bridegroom’s elephant at the door.
Come, dear gardener’s wife, sit at the threshold,
And tell me the worth of the sehra.
A hundred thousand frangipani, a hundred thousand marua
Three hundred thousand flowers in the sehra.

Here, dear gardeners wife, tie the sehra,
Tie it around the forehead of my precious son.
A son, mother! A son, sister!
A son, and good fortune is with us!
Father, take this sehra,
And tie it around your forehead of your son.
Tie to it a string of flowers, mother
And celebrate the marriage of your son.

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