South Gujarat Littoral · Western Coastal Strip
Fertility, the goddess Palghat, and the passage of the bride, sung by married women in the room where the wall image is being made. The song and the painting are one rite, not two.
Sung at: Marriage, while the chauk is painted.
Seasonal cycle, forest and the year's work. Holi is the principal festival of the slope and its repertoire is far larger than the Diwali one.
Sung at: Holi and harvest.
Praise, remembrance of the dead and moral instruction, in Gujarati verse rather than in Avestan — the community's vernacular devotional layer.
Sung at: The month of Bahman and the Muktad days.
The martyrdom at Karbala, recited in Dawoodi Bohra gatherings with Surat as a principal teaching centre.
Sung at: The first ten days of Muharram.
Welcome, blessing and family teasing, sung by women around the achhu michhu rite in which rice, coconut, egg and water are circled over the arriving person's head and set down or broken.
Sung at: Weddings and navjote.
The goddess and the dance, sung in a city where Kathiawadi and Surti circles run side by side in the same wards.
Sung at: Navratri.
The folk songs of South Gujarat Littoral — what they are about, who sings them and when. (6)