Maghi Geet of Srimati Laxmi Devi
Subtitle: Three Copies -- Manuscript (Handwritten)
Notes: Srimati Laxmi Devi died in Ranchi on 1977 at the age of around 69 years. She originally came from village Dariyapur under the present district of Nawada, Gaya Division. She was married with Sri Harnandan Sahay in 1923 at village Subhanpur under the same district. She was a great 'Gitiharin' (singing on rural tunes)  and  carried her own personal copies and collected  folksongs of the Maghi area or elsewhere whereever she got the opportunity. She mostly wrote the songs in Kaithi and   Hindi  connected with  different life-cycle rituals and others. Some of them may be mentioned here (not serial)  -- Birth songs, Sohar, Mundan, Chchathi, Churakaran, Sadi geet of-boys' and girls' , Lagan, Barati ke geet (Gali) Parichchan ,  Bhojni, Bidai, Sohag , Purkho  (Pitran) ke geet,  Pinda ke geet, Kanyadaan, Sindur-- daan, , various types of religious songs, Mangal-- geet, Matkor, Jog ke geet, Marwa, Tilak ke geet, Mobarakbadi songs,  Kohbar, Gaona,  Gajal, Bhavani ke geet, Maa ka geet Mahadev ke geet; Kajri, Chaita, Nirgun, Pratakali; Holi, godhan, Chchath, different types of Bhajan .  Laxmi Devi  not only collected the songs and written it, but sometime she asked somebody to write on her behalf. The Gitiharin as she was, she had a glamour;  was  respected and  a celebrity. Whenever there was a marriage, Chaththi, Mundan, or other relevant occasions, she was warmly invited on the occasion and  few others also who were of the same type,  joined.  A  Mahfil was arranged, and singing--sessions -- sometime combined with drums  (Dholki),  continued for hours together. At the occasion there were proper arrangements of Paan, Nasta etc. Since her marriage, Laxmi Devi continued collecting various songs and writing on a  series of copies  -- may be  nearly  six or seven, and also  on hurried scriblings  on plain papers. But unfortunatekly, except three main copies, others were misplaced or destroyed. The number of pages of the copies  are 258, 170, amd 64. The total number of songs my be around  300, and the types of songs, 100. Naturally, as they are  old,  papers and the inks were not on proper conditions and got somewhat affected. Owing to generational gaps, change of values, and factors of modernity, of course excepting  exceptions  such Geet--copies have gone  out of vogue
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