A Colourful But Perilous World: Bhojpuri Sayings from Fallon’s Dictionary of Hindustani Proverbs

S.W. Fallon (1870 — 1880) would have slipped through the pages of Indian history if it weren’t for his remarkable records of Indian vernacular languages. With a keen interest in local dialects, particularly their rural and colloquial variations, he recorded words, phrases, riddles, proverbs, idioms and songs along with their English translations.

Perhaps his most impressive work is A Dictionary of Hindustani Proverbs, a collection of 12,500 proverbs and sayings from the Northern Indian regions. Apart from Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi, it also features the idiosyncrasies of less popular literary languages such as Marwari, Bhojpuri, Maggah and Tirhuti.

Since he largely depended on locals and ordinary people for translations, he ended up featuring, to our great delight, even offensive words and local insults. The rhymes, proverbs and sayings in Bhojpuri are particularly striking as they paint a colourful but perilous world with fools, braggarts, thieves, cheats, conniving friends and treacherous family members. They offer an abundance of practical advice, with a pinch of humour, to guard one’s interests and brave the world with caution and suspicion.

Here we feature some of our favourites from the collection.

bhojpur mein jaiha mat, jaiha to khaiha mat, khahia to soiha mat, soiha to tohia mat, tohia to roiha mat
//
To Bhojpur town go not; or if you go, eat not; or if you eat, sleep not; or if you sleep (your bag) feel not; or if you feel it, cry not
—
nava dekhle kaankhe baar
//
On seeing a barber, he finds hair even under his armpit
—
ban par lin bilari, musa kaheli, je hamri joe
//
When the cat is away in the forest, the rat says ​“she’s my wife”
—

chhaati par baal nahi, bhaal se laraai
//
No hair on his chest, and he is going to fight a bear
—
gaanth me dam na, paturya dekh ruai de
//
With no money in his pocket, he weeps to see a woman (unable to wed her)