Documents - Halbi

RB-4: The Dussera Festival

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:31:36 +1000

Ramboti describes what happens at the Dussera Festival held annually in Jagdalpur.

The text currently lacks free translations and researcher's questions.

P-6: A Day with bai

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 15:01:57 +1000

A simple text written by Durga Ram Kasyap about working with myself on the Halbi language.

KB-1: My Life as a Blind Person

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 02:49:02 +1000

Kani Biti (litː blind lady) often came by for a visit with us in the village. On this occasion she gave the following text describing how she had become blind and what her life was like as a result.

GGF-2a: Weeding (Addendum)

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:01:47 +1000

A very brief text by Gunji's grandmother concerning her not going to weed the rice fields. This text follows a longer one about weeding (GGF-2) and appears to be an afterthought, probably following a question by one of the researchers

E-96 and DE-1: Raksin

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:01:17 +1000

The following text describes the raksin spirit, a spirit who can cause problems for a woman having difficulties during childbirth. Considerable fear is associated with this spirit, and the text describes ways the Halbi deal with any manifestation of the raksin.

The text is predominantly narrative with some expository material. There are two parts to the text, the first (E-96) describes an event that occurred in the village some time in the past. The second part (DE-1) was added as an addenda and describes how the Bhatpal villagers have gone about honouring this spirit and keeping her from causing them trouble.

DN-21: Durga in Nepal

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:29:18 +1000

Durga learned to type on a Devanagari typewriter during one of our trips to Nepal. This text is his first attempt at producing a text by himself. Both he and Chingaru became quite adept at typing Halbi with the typewriter.

The text lacks a free translation.

DN-7: Old Man's Talk

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:03:10 +1000

The ramblings of an old man we met when we went to a hospital in Nowrangpur in Orissa State, India. We were taking the village sirha to see the doctor about his early leprosy diagnosis.

Durga transcribed the text using a Romanised Halbi.

The text lacks a free translation.

DD-4: The Clueless Old Man and His Wife

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:02:56 +1000

A funny story written by Chingaru Ram Baghel. This story is about a clueless old man and his wife. He fails to learn though he claims to have learned how to deal with various issues with the result he dies in the end.
The text lacks the free translation.

DD-2: Ignorant Daughter-in-Law

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 18:02:53 +1000

A funny story written by Chingaru Ram Baghel. It tells the story of an ignorant daughter-in-law who clearly has no clue of how or what to cook. So after being instructed to cook 3 containers she takes the instruction literally and tries to cook to metal containers and takes them to the fields to feed the family. She fails to understand she needs to cook the contents of the containers.
The text lacks the free translation.

SG-1: The Sate and Gapi story

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:54:26 +1000

This delightfully brief story is a play on words. The name səte means ‘truly, in truth’ and the name gəpi tʃə̃dər means something like ‘dark and lowering, stormy, very wet'.
When two people form a mit friendship then they should not use each other's name. If they do so then the people will laugh at them. Typed by Durga, c1971.

RR-1: The Rupumati Story

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:54:25 +1000

The story of Rupumati seems to be part of a much larger story (epic). Rupumati does not come into the narrative till near the end. The bulk of the story concerns a king and his barren queens. After performing much ritual worship the main queen becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins boys one of whom marries Rupumati.

PJ-1: The Peacock and the Jackal

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:54:23 +1000

A short funny bodily function story about a peacock and a jackal who formed a mit friendship. The story is also a trickster story with the jackal initially tricking the peacock but the peacock promises to turn the tables on the jackal. This type of story is considered to be somewhat obscene (bakna).
Typed by Chingaru, c1974.

HK-1: Growing Penises

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:54:22 +1000

This story is classified as a kəhka obscene tale. Chingaru wrote this story for me in 1978. He said that when they came to pick us and our luggage up in Jagdalpur the three of them (Durga, Chingaru and Tati) told many many such stories. He would only write it. And, he wrote it on the condition that I would not talk with him about it nor tell anyone he had written it for me. My village relationship with him was mother-son and therefore one in which bakna speech was not permitted.

MS-2: The Monkey and the Girl #2

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:32 +1000

Story typed by Chingaru telling the story of a girl and a monkey.
Initially, things were very awful for the girl but the result was that she magically became a very rich queen with a beautiful palace.
The story begins and progresses with considerable detail but then the latter part where she becomes a queen seems to be quite truncated indicating the story may be much longer than is included here.

MS-1: The Monkey and the Girl #1

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:30 +1000

Short story typed by Durga telling the story of a girl and a monkey. The story has a tragic ending.

ML: The Maha Lakhi story

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:28 +1000

The myth is an epic and concerns Maha Lakhi, the tutelary deity of the agriculturally oriented Raj Mureas. Maha Lakhi is the central character in at least three myths, each of which represents her in a different incarnation.In one of these myths, a naʈ ‘dance drama’, Maha Lakhi marries a deity named King Dubisty. In another—perhaps most central of the three—she marries a deity, Narean Debi, who is also the sun. This myth is featured in the dʒəɡar festival celebrated in the lunar month of Kartik (November-December) following the rice harvest. In the third narrative, this myth, Maha Lakhi marries the deity Nasilnat.

JS-1: The Jackal story

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:27 +1000

A short funny story about the body function of defecating. This type of story is considered to be somewhat obscene (bakna). Typed in Devanagari by Chingaru, c1974.

GB-1: The Gond's Son and the Ox

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:26 +1000

A story about the adventures of Manji Gond's son, Langtea. Tricked by his father and the prospective meal of a spirit, Langtea's oxen save him from certain death. The story recounts how he eventually wins the hand in marriage of the princess.

BK-1: Mouse Queen

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:29:24 +1000

The story of the Mouse Queen is a delightful tale told by Ramboti, c1968.

The audio file of this story is available here.

BB-4: Head Shaving

bhojman06@yahoo.com.au (Fran Woods) — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 15:09:19 +1000

Begins as a mix of narrative and descriptive. The text then moves into a conversation about our teaching English to some of them, then to the possibility of Betsy getting married and finally some teasing back and forth between Ramboti and Budae about getting married.