Dupatta tera Sat Rang Da

Translated by Moninder Jheeta and Sumer Johal and Radhika Nagpal

© Copyright 2001 MIT Bhangra

A beautiful song, one of the better songs for dancing bhangra. The musical quality of this song, and the lyrics, makes it great to listen to. The lyrics contain many typical punjabi sayings. I've explained some of them below.

CHORUS: Modhe ton tilkda jave  Sataraan wal khave  Dupatta tera satrang da,  Kurdiye,  Dupatta tera satrang da,  Chobheraan nu barda tardpave  Seene agh lave  Dupatta tera satrang da  Oh sakhiyan che rehaniyan  tu rani ban ke  Oh sadak wich lange patrani ban ke  Meeh ambharaan de wich ehe pave  Ni jadon leherave  Dupatta tera satrang da  Kehande he jawani hundi  pukhi pyaar di  Taang ehnu rahe sada dildar di  Sajana noo piya eh bulave  Na thorda sharmave  Dupatta tera satrang da  Danna, danna, danna  Dupateyah sach das ve,  Mein kehrde pind muklave jana?  Hirna ne tor hey udhari  tethon mangi  Ma-piyan dee jaan ni toon  sooli utte tangi  Cheetey chan na koi nava hee chadave  Kasoota jabh pave  Dupatta tera satrang da  Sandhu dekh hoya nee shudayee phirda  Photo teri batuey che payee phirda  Geet teri hee dupatte de oh gave  Nee jind tardpave,  Dupatta tera sat rang da

It slips (tilkda) from your shoulder (modha)  It makes seventeen (sataraan=17) waves (wal khave)  Your chunni of seven colours  Oh (beautiful) girl,  It fills the young men with longing (tardap=suffer)  Setting their hearts (seena=chest) on fire (agh)  Your scarf (dupatta) of seven (sat) colours (rang)  You live like a queen (rani) amongst (wich)  your girlfriends (sakhiyan)  And in the clear path you walk very flirtateously  Putting rainbows (meeh=rain) in the sky (ambaraan)  When (jadon) it waves (leherave)  Your scarf of seven colours  They say that youth is hungry for love  It is forever (sada) tense (taang) in search of  a lover (dildar)  It calls the lover "piya"  Without a bit of shame (sharam)  Your scarf of seven colours  Danna, danna, danna  Oh dupatta, tell me (das) the truth (sach)  Which village (kehrde pind) is the one of  my future husband (mukhlava***)  The deer have borrowed (udhari) their  walk (tor) from you ***  You've put your parents' (ma-piyan) life (jaan)  on death-row (sooli=noose) (they're worried to death)  I hope you don't create some new (nava) problem  when that dupatta is whirled into a knot (kasoota),  Your scarf of seven colours  Sandhu (the song writer) has gone crazy (shudayee) for you  He walks (phirda) around with your photo in his  wallet (batua) ***  He only sings songs (geet) about your dupatta  That dupatta which troubles (tardpave) his life,  Your dupatta of seven colours.

Mukhlava = When girl's side goes to visit to boys's side. The word mukh=face, so literally mukhlava means showing face. This is in preparation for marriage. The woman in this verse is asking her dupatta, as if it could tell the future, where she lover will be. Which points to another intersting fact about punjabi songs in general --- the singer switches between the voice of some observer, the woman herself, and later on his own self (Sandhu). This is common in punjabi songs.

Hirni = The deer is considered a very graceful animal and is often used as a comparison for the graceful woman. Common compliments are to the big eyes (Hirni di Akh) and the graceful walk (Hirni di Tor). Here, he compliments her by saying that the deer are so graceful only because they borrowed their graceful style from her.

Sandhu = Here the singer refers to himself, as being crazy about this woman. This is very typical in the last verse to bring in your own name and end on a very personal note (also see Aj Bhangra Paun nu Ji Karda, by Malkit). For those who love ghazals, they will recognize this --- in ghazals too the poet often ends with a verse that uses their own name.

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