Jab te dhokho de ke gayo: Since he fooled me and left
Holi ki Rasiya: "Jaba te dhokho de ke gayo"
One of Shyamdas’ many dear friends is a wandering Vaishnava named Hasmukh (Smiling Face), also known as Laldas (Red). Like Shyamdas, he lives mostly in Nathdvara and Jatipura, absorbed in satsang, kirtan, and pilgrimage. One day during the spring season of Holi, Hasmukh stopped in to see Shyamdas in Jatipura, where he sang and explained this Rasiya poem by Ghasiram, a poet from Govardhan, to Madhu-ji. Rasiyas are an innuendo laden, sometimes raucous, often insulting, passion-filled style of poems sung during the latter part of the 40 days of Holi. During this recording Shyamdas was bustling around in the kitchen as usual, but he was listening intently and chimed in every so often with some English translation. Thank you Madhusudandas for sharing this amazing recording!
Since the day He fooled me and left,
I haven’t played Holi with Shyam.
Udhava, go back to Dwarka and take this message to Him.
Explain that the women of Braj are suffering and
thirsting for His sight.
How naive of me to believe Him when He said,
“I’ll be back the day after tomorrow.”
Now it’s been a year and my dress remains like new
[with no Holi stains].
We Gopis will cast off our life-breath
and die in the Holi flames.
Go make Him understand
that we have little time left to live.
He renounced the ladies of Braj
for a love affair with Kubja, the hunchback of Mathura?
Sings the poet Ghasiram, “May the couple remain forever!”
Jaba te dhokho de ke gayo Śyama sanga nā khelī Holī
Udhoji tuma jao Dvārkā le pātī morī
kahiyo yon samujhāyī darasa bina talase braja nārī
parason kī kahe gayo māna gayī mai kaisī bhorī
barasa dinā gayo bīt chunariyā rahe gayo korī
denge prāṇa gavāye ghāta kī kara dengī Holī
kahiyo yon samujhāyī umarīyā rahe gaye thoḍī
braja bālā de tyāga prīti yāne Kubjā sanga jorī
kahe kavi Ghāsīram sadā ye banī rahe jorī
Artist: Hasmukh
