Saurashtra · Arid Northwest
Judgement, obligation, generosity and shame, compressed into a single couplet. The form is Charani and its authority rests on the singer's lineage as much as on the verse.
Sung at: Dayro gatherings, and formerly at court.
Addressed to the goddess as Ambe, Chamunda or Khodiyar, and increasingly to the dance itself. The older texts are slow and devotional; the tempo of the sung repertoire has risen sharply since amplification arrived.
Sung at: Navratri.
Sleep, cattle, and the absent father who has taken the herd out — a pastoral lullaby, not a lyrical one.
Sung at: Cradle songs.
Teasing and abuse songs directed by the bride's women at the groom's party, licensed by custom and expected to be obscene.
Sung at: Weddings, at the feast.
Women's laments sung in a group after a death, with a lead voice and a responding line, formerly accompanied by chest-beating. The practice is discouraged in many households now and is thinning fast.
Sung at: Death.
Instruction rather than praise — fifty-two songs addressed by a woman saint of Samadhiyala to her disciple Panbai, of which "Vij ne chamkare moti parovo" is the best known.
Sung at: All-night bhajan gatherings.
The Krishna and Dwarka cycle, sung to the stick-beat of the raas rather than to a free rhythm.
Sung at: Janmashtami and Navratri.
The folk songs of Saurashtra — what they are about, who sings them and when. (7)