Gauripuria Gabhoru: The Teenaged Girl From Gauripur
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
I captured
the elephants
And I won her heart too
By swimming
the Gadadhar River
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
By the side
of the palace
On the banks
of the river
She stood alone
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
In Goalpara’s
elephant stables
The mahouts
were from different places
And I was
the only one
From a village
in Sibsagar
And in that dense forest
I sang
a Bihu song of Spring
And what did I sing?
I can climb hills
I can climb hills
To climb creepers?
And is it tough
to climb creepers?
I can control mad elephants
I can control mad elephants
To control you?
And is it tough
to control you?
I won the teenage girl’s
heart
I climbed the
creeper too
By singing a
Bihu song
I won the attention
of the beautiful stranger
And I learnt
the saying
That you achieve success
through hard work
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
I captured
the elephants
And I won her heart too
By swimming
the Gadadhar River
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
I turned my blood
into water
To capture
wild elephants
In turn, I won
the stable-owner’s
Respect and
well wishes
I can now
show my bride
The banks
of the river Dikhow
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
I captured
the elephants
And I won her heart too
By swimming
the Gadadhar River
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
By the side
of the palace
On the banks
of the river
She stood alone
I saw the young
Gauripuria girl
On my way to capture
wild elephants
Bhupen Hazarika again. His song Gauripuria Gabhoru is one of my favourites. I have tried my best to translate this Assamese folk song into English. I have broken the lines as sung in the song. This is an attempt to bring the essence of Assamese music to non-Assamese readers.
Among other artists of Assam, Bhupen Hazarika has a considerable number of songs about the simple life of the Assamese people and also on the glorious literary history and culture of Assam.
In this song, he sings about a mahout who goes all the way from Sibsagar to Goalpara in Lower Assam to work in an elephant stable, falls in love with a local beauty from Gauripur, and finally marries her.