Namita Waikar

PARI GSP Team

Labani Jangi

Illustration

large_01-GSP-43-poster-NW__GSP_Team-Riding_the_grindmill_chariot_to_prosperity.jpg

medium_01-GSP-43-poster-NW__GSP_Team-Riding_the_grindmill_chariot_to_prosperity.jpg

small_01-GSP-43-poster-NW__GSP_Team-Riding_the_grindmill_chariot_to_prosperity.jpg

thumbnail_01-GSP-43-poster-NW__GSP_Team-Riding_the_grindmill_chariot_to_prosperity.jpg

01-GSP-43-poster-NW__GSP_Team-Riding_the_grindmill_chariot_to_prosperity.jpg

Savitra Ubhe sings 11 couplets about the daily task of grinding grains, and the tricks to make it easy – all the while remembering her mother, who made her strong for the hard labour

“Give a roll of betel leaf to your brother, give it to your beloved friend,” a wise woman  at the grindmill advises another whose brother is sulking. The words emerge like the rhythm of drumbeats from Savitra Ubhe as she sings a refrain interlacing her ovi:

Jasmine tree, heavily laden with buds A woman plucks, strings a garland A beautiful visage, the moon’s arc Yet, the parrot on the tree is silent In this forest, why is there no water? O Radhika, give a betel leaf roll to your brother O Radhika, give a betel leaf roll to your beloved friend

Has the woman tied a string of the jasmine buds in her hair or has she made a fragrant garland to offer it to her beloved friend? Both look beautiful like the moon’s arc. Either way, she is trying to pacify the silent raghu, parrot, on the tree, who symbolises the man.The lack of water in the forest is a metaphor for the absence of contentment even amidst the beautiful surroundings. Perhaps they have had yet another quarrel and it is his turn to sulk and hers to appease him. Offering him a betel leaf roll might please him. And we wonder if this is the same woman about whom Savitrabai sang in another set of ovi: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/a-sisters-anguish-a-brothers-worry/">A sister’s anguish, a brother’s worry</a>. The woman offers the man a vida – a rolled betel leaf filled with shavings of betel nut and dabs of catechu and white lime. It is a sign of welcoming him with love, and the image is often used in folklore to portray shringara rasa, romantic love. In her signature style, Savitrabai sings the refrain after each line of the jatyavarchi ovi, grindmill songs. But the other women present complain it is too long. “We cannot remember so many words between two lines,” they say, protesting in a friendly way.

The women go on chatting and laughing in the background. Savitrabai continues to sing, though not unmindful of their comments. After the first few couplets, she changes the tune a little, and then drops the rather long but beautiful refrain.In these songs, Savitrabai sings of a woman’s unparalleled strength in wielding the grindmill, described as a hillock of black corundum stone. The hard stone crushes big mounds of grain for the woman’s large family that includes her husband, daughter, son and daughter-in-law. The singer celebrates the energy of women, whose labour makes their family prosper: “a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are grinding on the terrace which has seven sections.” This tells us that it is a big house of a prospering family.  The women in charge are strong. They are riding a chariot – not an ordinary one at that, but the two-wheeled carriage of the grindmill. The older woman explains to her daughter that it is when she sits like a charioteer, and uses all the strength of her youth, that the grindmill will “flow as easily as water would between the two of us.” It is hard labour, and with constant grinding and pounding, the woman’s hands have become pale. She is dripping in sweat. But the strength to do this work has come to her from her mother&#39;s milk, as sweet as honey, which she drank as an infant, and from the generous doses of nutmeg paste she was made to eat as a child. In this collection, the third and final set of Savitra Ubhe’s 23 songs for the Grindmill Songs Project, she leaves a small, expert tip for younger women working at the grindmill. One does not need to move the whole body while grinding, the singer says, “my dear woman, hold the stick firmly in your hand, against your wrist.”Listen to her powerful voice:

My grinding is over, but I had to take more grains Both my brother and father are hereI’m grinding till the sifting pan is full of flour My dear son will go to school nowIt’s not a grindmill, it’s like a hillock It crushes mounds and mounds of grain; my son is rich and prosperousIn whose house is the chariot of two women? Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law are grinding On the terrace with a wall of seven sections  It’s not a grindmill, it’s like a hillock  It grinds kilos and kilos of grains; my son is rich and prosperousWoman, this is not a grindmill, it is black corundum from the mine My dear daughter, you have the strength of your youthTo pull the grindmill, one must sit like a charioteer Between the two of us, the chariot will flow like waterTo pull the grindmill, with the force of one’s fingers and nails I have drunk my mother’s milk, like vessels filled with honeyGrinding and pounding, sweat is dripping in bowlfuls My mother fed me a paste of handfuls of nutmegGrinding and pounding, my palms become yellow My mother fed me a fresh paste of nutmegTo pull the grindmill, why should you move your whole body Now, my dear woman, you should hold the handle firmly against the wristThe refrain Jasmine tree, heavily laden with buds Woman plucks, strings a garland A beautiful visage, like the moon’s arc Yet, the parrot on the tree is silent In this forest, why is there no water? O Radhika, give a betel leaf roll to your brother O Radhika, give a betel leaf roll to your beloved friend

Performer/Singer: Savitra UbheHamlet: Khadakwadi Village: Kolavade Taluka: Mulshi District: Pune Caste: Maratha Date: The songs were recorded on June 1, 1996

Courtesy: Savitrabai Ubhe

Poster: UrjaListen to more songs by Savitra Ubhe: <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/a-womans-work-and-sweat-for-prosperity/">A woman’s work and sweat for prosperity</a> and <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/a-sisters-anguish-a-brothers-worry/">A sister’s anguish, a brother’s worry</a>. <a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/the-grindmill-songs-recording-a-national-treasure/">Read </a>about the original Grindmill Songs Project founded by Hema Rairkar and Guy Poitevin.

Riding the grindmill chariot to prosperity

चक्की रूपी रथ पर सवार धन-धान्य

সুখের সারথি ছোটে জাঁতার উজানে

जात्याच्या रथावर आरुढ, सुख समृद्धीच्या वाटेवर

Pune

At present, we can only accept donations in Indian rupees by Indian citizens. All donations made to the CounterMedia Trust are eligible for exemption under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Here is a copy of our exemption certificate.


India is bigger than New Delhi. And people need to know more about the rest of this vast nation.


Younger, media-saturated generations are growing up knowing little about their country, but a lot about the elites of a few metros and towns. For a narrowly-owned, commercially-driven media, the dumbing down of a nation is part of standard operating procedure. The last available data of the Centre for Media Studies (CMS, Delhi) show us that reports from New Delhi account for 66 per cent of news on the front pages of major dailies. The CMS data also found that just about 0.24 per cent of front page news came out of rural India. The TV channels are not much better.PARI exists to change that.We are a non-profit organisation. We publish under creative commons, and do not charge readers a subscription fee or put-up advertisements. Nothing is behind a paywall and we are completely free-to-access by anyone. We guard our independence and receive no direct grants from governments and corporations, nor any funding that could dictate our content. So, we are dependent on volunteer labour, donations from individuals, foundations and institutions that see value in independent and free media.PARI is changing the way Indian journalism reports and documents the rural.India is more than the elite of a few metros and towns. We report on rural lives and livelihoods, languages, communities, migrants and more. We need your help to pull off this most ambitious of Indian journalistic endeavours. The scale of this effort costs money. Donate generously - and spread the word about PARI.&nbsp;

Donate FAQs


Let’s get you acquainted

Welcome to PARI

All our content is, and will forever be free to consume. If you enjoy our work, you can support us by becoming a volunteer or by donating to help fund our work.

Want to republish this article? Please write to <a href="mailto:zahra@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">zahra@ruralindiaonline.org</a> with a cc to <a href="mailto:namita@ruralindiaonline.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">namita@ruralindiaonline.org</a>

Riding the grindmill chariot to prosperity

Related stories

A rain-scented walk in Sivagangai

Living on ravaged land

Biswas and the bamboos on his bike

Recycling energy, Godda style

Bhadels of Goa

Pookadai: still throbbing with morning life

Koli Kadlas

Malnourishment high among children of migrants: study

Wheels of the rural Indian West

Living Under a Red Cloud in Bellary

Vedla – earrings of the Maher community

Dreaming of water, drowning in debt

Kali: the dancer and his dreams

Farmer's diet worse than a convict's

In Yavatmal, life goes on

Suicides are about the living, not the dead

Death of a carpenter

Hoisa Shigmo!

Women farmers: weaving a life in Anantapur

Defiant in Dhinkia

Spice and all that's nice

Kerala's Green Army

The ‘jugaad’ not-a-mobile

Health as someone else's wealth

Calibrating in a Kudumbashree assembly unit