Bathan Bathan koren moishal - Kali Dasgupta, Ruma Guhathakurta

The Mahut (elephant-tamer), the Maishal (buffalo keeper) and the Garial (cart-driver) are recurrent characters in Goalpariya and Bhawaiya folk songs. This is a song of longing (bicched) sung by the Maishal's young bride. Maishal has to slog for months in the bathan (grazing ground for buffaloes) to earn a few shillings to pay off the marriage dowry, whereas the wife endures pangs of long separation. She curses Maishal's boss and urges him to come back home at once. She'd rather sell off her necklace to meet their financial needs.

I have stitched together two different renditions - one by the inimitable Kali Dasgupta, and the second one beautifully sung by Ruma Guhathakurta. This song, for obvious reasons, is more suited to the female voice. In the beginning, Kali Dasgupta talks a little about the socio-economic context of the song.