Alankar(Decor)-209

Misery Overruled(Ovi) Ovi is commonly known as 12th century folk-songs of the Marathi Region of India which expressed love, social irony and heroic events. Two forms of ovi are popular today: the granthik (literary) ovi and the women's ovi. The literary ovi is sung without tala (rhythm) by a kirtankar in a kirtan, a devotional call-and-response chanting form. This is generally used for ovis of saints like Dnyaneshwar, Eknath and Namdev. The women's ovi is sung with tala, when the women gather for work or pleasure. It is thought to be in the rhythm of songs sung by women on the grinding stone (jata) . The ovi is sung while women use the mortar and pestle or the rahat (a manual water wheel) to pull water from the well. The women's ovis are 'protest songs more than work songs' — complaints about the hard work, unhappy marriages and 'despotic husbands'. They contain sarcasm of the patriarchal society. They also contain elements of bhakti (devotion) , where the singer implores God to save her from these bondages. An ovi poem has couplets (called kadva or ovi itself) . Each couplet is generally divided into four charan (parts/lines) . The first three charans are rhymed and have same number of matras (instants) composed of six or eight letters (vary from eight to ten syllables) , while the fourth is 'open' (unrhymed with the rest) , shorter with fewer matras and generally has four letters (vary from four to six syllables) . The Ovi is: stanzaic, written in any number of 4 line stanzas. syllabic,8-8-8-(less than 8) syllables rhymed, with L1, L2, L3 mono-rhymed L4 unrhymed. aaax, x being unrhymed. Misery Overruled(Women's Ovi) (Two sister-in-laws' conversational singing bemoaning their suffering caused by their husbands) Oh sis in law, sister-in-law Daughter of my mother-in-law What brought you here tell me all blah To each my pounding sister-in-law, sister-in-law Oh my mother's daughter-in-law It's my hubby who breaks all law My life is crumbling I'm so sorry but don't worry We shall carry this with fury Teach your hubby lesson eerie With each my pounding And before that tell me all wrong Your hubby brat did all along One by one flat if you think strong To each my pounding Oh sis-in-law, sister-in-law He smokes he drinks, his dirty flaw Beats me bad by immoral law My life is crumbling And he spends lot but saves nothing Life is a naught by suffering Dreams are all lost, days tattering My life is crumbling Oh sis-in-law pounded, pounded Your hubby's flaws all are pounded Aha aha, pounded, pounded Like these grains I do But what I feel, yours is better Than my worst peal that your brother Worst of his reel eloped bitter With another girl And your parents, dear my in-laws Not transparent but they do toss My life be rent in silent loss How I be rescued For that reason I'm now pounding Their only son I'm just pounding Treason, treason I'm now pounding Your parents too just mashed