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APRIL, 1933]
KASHMIRI PROVERBS
Nidyáris chi dugani dyár. A penniless person has to spend double. (I.e., he borcows, paying high interest,
and he purchases the necessaries of life in small quantities, which costs him more.)
Qalib lari bunyul. An earthquake to a pakka house (it cracks it). (A great calamity.)
Parbatas dhani bhawun. Growth of rice on [the top of a rocky or arid] hill. (An impossibility.)
Penji chamb. A platform (proved to be like) a precipice.
Ratuk láyun gomo khám : Lol lo âm, lol lo âm. Yesterday's thrashing was not sufficient : Love has seized me, love has seized me. (Cited when a person, with whom one
has quarrelled, seeks reconciliation.).
Sera wawa khuta chu dera waw. Want of house is worse than want of food.
Shawl kanit ta shali hět. After the sale of a shawl and the purchase of sáli rice (one regrets, as the value of the
former increases as it gets older, and better quality of the latter can be got by waiting a little longer). 8 h kas be-pir andar mulk-:- Kashmir Wali-Had o Hari-Bahadur, Sukha-Pir: :!: Sěh kas digar zabún tar and zánhanYikey Argámi, duwum Bhairau, siwum Bhan. There were three cruel men in the country of Kashmir Wali-Had and Hari-Bahadur (and) Sukha-Pir: There are three greater devils than theseFirst Årgami, second Bhairau, third Bhan. (Beggars are a great nuisance in
Kashmir, and these three are cited as the greatest extortioners.) Shurčo shri=doh sdrivo : Väntsaka dhaka chéva Shri-Panteam O children! holidays are over : To satisfy your desires there is the Sri Pancami (5th of the dark fortnight of
Vaisakha, the last Hindu holiday of the year).
Shuri chu khormut un wanas ta kon brannas. The child has made a blind man go to the forest and a one-eyed person climb a
brann (elm tree) (A child cannot be appeased until his curiosity is satisfied.)
Talawa vpěyi na tanga! Would that a pear might fall down from the ceiling! (A vain hope.) Tali tsöl. Crown of the head pressed down. (I.e., in depressed circumstanoes).
