Kaun rang mungwa kawan rang motiyaa
Posted on: May 12, 2012
Munshi Premchand (31 July 1880- 8 october 1936) was a premier Hindi novelist whose novels and stories have had an enormous influence on modern Hindi literature. When I look at his literary output, I am amazed at his vision. His vision was unbelievably progressive and futuristic, especially considering the era he lived in (late 19th century to early 20th century).
One reason why he is not known internationally unlike some other Indian literary figures has to do with the fact that Munshi Premchand did not interact much with foreign literary figures. If good quality English translations of Munshi Premchand’s works were available for international readers then I am sure he would have been as well known internationally as say the Russian novelist Anton Chekov.
Munshi Premchand had gone to Bombay in 1930s to try his luck as a scriptwriter in Hindi movies, but he found the working conditions there not to his liking and he returned back from there disillusioned. During his brief stint at Bombay film inustry, he wrote a couple of scripts and he even played the role of a trade union leader in a movie.
Munshi Premchand died in 1930s at a relatively young age. Much later, a few of his stories were made into Hindi movies with mixed success. “Gaban”(1966) and “Shatranj Ke Khilaadi” (1977) are two of the better known movies which were based on Munshi Premchand’s novels.
Most authors write about human beings, often championing the cause of the downtrodden among them, but what about writing about animals ? Munshi Premchand rose in my estimate a great deal when I realised that he had in fact written a story championing the cause of animals.
This story is called “Do bailon Ki katha” (Tale of two bullocks). In this story, he tells us about two bulls ,called Heera and Moti, who live with a farmer and his wife. the farmer treats them well, but his wife is inconsiderate and ill treats them. The wife sends the two bullocks to her maika to work in the fields of her brother. Her brother also maltreats the bulls. Unable to take the ill treatment, they escape from his house and come back to their original home. The wife is obviously not amused and gets them sent back to her brother’s place once again, where they are subjected to more torture. Unable to take it any longer, they escape once agin. This time, they are rounded up by the stray cattle department officials. Needless to say, they are ill treated there too, and finally they are put up for auction and they are bought by one kasaai (slaughterer). When the sluagerer is taking them with him to the slaughter house, the two bulls realise that they are passing through familiar surroundings. They realise that they are passing though the village of their owner. The two of them escape and end up infront of the house of their owner. The slaughterer comes running behind them and demands the bulls back, saying that they belong to him. The owner points out that the bulls have come before him and are standing there on their own volition, which is enough proof that they belong to him. When the slaughterer tries to argue, the bulls charge at him and chase him till the outskirts of the village. The wife of the owner comes out and hugs the two bulls. So all ends well.
One can read this wonderful story in English here(sixth story out of eleven).
For those familar with Hindi, the link is here.
This story is there in my daughter’s Hindi text book. This story was there in my Hindi textbook too when I was a school kid. My daughter read this story alongwith my wife and loved it, because she could identify with the feelings of Heera and Moti who feel and behave quite similar to how our two pet dogs feel and behave.
I find that this Premchand story was made into a movie called “Heera Moti” (1959). But the movie was not a faithful reproduction of the story. Premchand’s story is told from the point of view of the two bullocks, and the story does not have anything like class conflicts among Human beings. But the movie has the tale of a landlord harassing poor farmer couple. In a way, this movie had been reduced to a pale imitation of “Do Beegha Zameen” (1953), with the same pair (Balraj Sahni and Nirupa Roy) playing the couple owning the two bulls.
While the movie bears only a vague resemblence to the story, music of this movie is quite nice to listen to.
I have discussed one song from this movie in the past.
The most well known song from the movie is this lovely all female duet which is sung by Suman Kalyanpur and Sudha Malhotra. The song is picturised on Nirupa Roy (playing Balraj Sahni’s wife) and Shubha Khote (playing Balraj Sahni’s sister, viz. Nirupa Roy’s nanad). The lovely song has words that are used in villages of Bihar/ eastern UP and these words may not be familiar to those who have not lived in those parts. I have been able to get most portions of the lyrics right, but I have got stuck at a few places. I request our knowledgeable readers familiar with the “Bihari” language to tell us about the missing/ correct words wherever applicable.
ShailendraPrem Dhawan is the lyricist. Music is composed by Roshan.
Song-Kaun rang mungwa kawan rang motiyaa (Heera Moti)(1959) Singers-Suman Kalyanpur, Sudha Malhotra, Lyrics-Prem Dhawan, MD-Roshan
Suman Kalyanpur + Sudha Malhotra
Lyrics
kaun rang mungwa kawan rang motiyaa
kaun rang mungwa
kaun rang mungwa kawan rang motiyaa
ho kaun rang
ho kaun rang
nanadi
tore birna
ho o o o jee
sabaz rang mungwa
safed rang motiyaa
sabaz rang mungwa
sabaz rang mungwa
safed rang motiyaa
saanwar rang
ho saanwar rang bhauji
more birna
ho ho ho jee
toot gayile mungwa
bikhar gaile motiyaa
toot gayile mungwa
toot gayile mungwa
bikhar gaile motiyaa
bisar gaile
haay
bisar gaile
bhauji
more birna
ho o o o jee
been laibo mungwa
bator laibo motiyaa
been laibo mungwa
been laibo mungwa
bator laibo motiyaa
manaaye laibo
manaaye laibo nanadi
tore birna
ho ho ho jee
kit sohe mungwa
kit sohe motiyaa
kit sohe mungwa
kit sohe mungwa
kit sohe motiyaa
ho kit sohe
ho kit sohe
nanadi
tore birna
ho ho ho ho jee
mundri sohe mungwa
?? sohe motiyaa
mundri sohe mungwa
mundri sohe mungwa
?? sohe motiyaa
titiriya sohe
ho
titiriya sohe
bhauji
more birna
ho ho ho jee
ho ho ho ho
ho ho
ho ho ho ho
ho ho ho ho
ho ho ho ho ho
26 Responses to "Kaun rang mungwa kawan rang motiyaa"
May 12, 2012 at 10:13 am
Atul ji,
HFGK says this song was written by Prem Dhawan.
-AD
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May 12, 2012 at 11:18 am
Very nice song! In Bhojpuri, the language in which this song is written, the “chakki” is known as “jaataa”. This is a tedious and time consuming activity. To divert attention from this physically taxing exercise, women of the house very often sing songs. Such songs are called “jatsaar” songs. These songs are either “karun” or “sringaar” ras – sad/melancholic or celebrating love. Religious songs are not sung at these times. I am sure there must be several such songs in Hindi movies. Any leads?
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May 12, 2012 at 11:45 am
The song I instantly remember is ‘jaane kaaye jiyaa moraa dole’ from GODAAN (1964).
Video clip : http://youtu.be/-s528yV8aOk
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May 12, 2012 at 1:38 pm
Santosh ji,
Even in Maharashtra too this ‘chakki’ is known as ‘jaataa’ and the songs that were sung while operating it was known as ‘o-vi’.Usually it used to be song giving social message or fun of the ‘sasural’ people.The jaataa was operated by 2 women,who would change hands alternatively,sitting opposite.There were many proverbs coined around this activity,in Marathi.
I am sure there must be similar things in other states too.Senior people would know about it.
-AD
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I have also seen chakki in village households of South Bihar, now Jharkhand. But there it was operated by single women. Why women, even enthusiastic kids can operate it. I as an enthusiastic kid had also done it during my summer vacations in 1970s.
And then how can one forget the Hindi saying ‘Jail mein chakki peesna”. Apparently, prisoners in jail were given the job of operating chakki in olden days.
Who can forget Dharmendra’s immortal dialogue from “Sholay”- “Budhiyaa going jail. Jail mein budhiyaa chakki peesing, and peesing, and peesing..”
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May 12, 2012 at 3:05 pm
Here is a “chakki” song from Achhut Kanya (1936). This has not been posted yet. I see only 4 songs of this movie posted so far. There are definitely more. This is one of my favourite movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHX6-texq6A
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May 12, 2012 at 10:54 pm
I just discovered this movie through my anipals post—Naaz sings a song to Heera and Moti as they are her only friends 🙂 Really would like to see this one.
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I too discussed this song after going through that particular anipal post comment. Prior to that I was not aware that this movie was based on that much beloved story of a pair of bullocks which school kids in India have been studying in their text books for last few generations. I am sure you would love to read the story (I have provided the link).
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Talking of love for bullocks reminds me of Roti (1942) – another movie I just love.
In that movie, Sheikh Mukhtar and Sitara Devi have a pair of bullocks who they love like crazy. Sitara Devi is conned by Chandramohan into using those bullocks to take him back to the city (he promises he’ll send them back). He then gives them to somebody else in the city.
Sheikh Mukhtar and Sitara Devi then come to the city with the sole objective of getting their bullocks back.
Sweet movie – though I don’t think there was an anipal song.
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May 12, 2012 at 11:20 pm
I love this song. If I still had my old maid, I would have had her listen to this song and tell me the word and its meaning. I remember her using words like ‘dham’ for ‘dhoop’. There were times when she would speak and I would just blink.. not able to understand.
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May 12, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I don’t know the dialect your maid spoke. If she spoke Bhojpuri she would have said “ghaam”.
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May 13, 2012 at 5:18 pm
One lovely song featuring the same chakki is https://atulsongaday.me/2010/08/13/o-panchhi-pyaare-saanjh-sakhaare/
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December 26, 2012 at 2:25 pm
can someone plz translate lyrics in english ??
thanks.
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June 2, 2013 at 8:54 pm
I just recorded and posted this duet. It was hard to figure out some of the words.
Let me know how we did…
I sang Suman Kalyanpur’s part.
http://www.paras-sargam.blogspot.com/2013/06/kaune-rang-mungwa.html
Thanks,
Parasmani
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August 16, 2013 at 1:39 pm
I visit your blog often and have decided if I find a song as per your theme I will inform you,so here is one chakki song in film Sant janabai 1949 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzmJKLDEJso
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April 14, 2015 at 3:15 pm
I love this song 🙂 . In fact I love folksy . This song in particular takes me back to my Naani’s house where as little girl I have ground grain with her on a “chakki” like this !
Coming to the song … I too have been trying to fathom words in the lyrics , especially the jewelry mentioned ! Here’s what I’ve learnt …. “mundri” is simple enough … the third one sounds like “tikiriya” which I am told ( by a Bihari friend) is a maangteeka worn by suhagans … now the second one posed a major issue till I heard the song on another link where the pronunciations seem a trifle clearer . The word sounds like “vakiya” . Now “vaki” in Marathi is an armband and from the lyrics one would say pearls seem to fit the idea of an armband . What do you say ?
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October 3, 2025 at 8:18 am
In the video clip at https://youtu.be/fVi_TgLxMaE?list=RDfVi_TgLxMaE, Deepali Sahay beautifully sings this number with clear enunciation of each word plus interpretation of the lyrics.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
May 12, 2012 at 9:17 am
What a coincidence!
My article on this song would have reached you probably by the end of today but for my brief indisposition, struggling with lyrics and trying to find out meanings of some Bhojpuri words in the lyrics.
I was very fond of reading short stories of Munshi Premchand during my school days. In fact a few of his short stories was in the school curriculum probably 6th and 7th classes.[ I had done my high school studies in Hindi medium]. However, I feel shy to say that since mid-70s, I have not read any Hindi novels. It is only when I came across this song, I started searching for Premchand’s short stories on the internet. Luckily, some of them are available on the internet in Hindi to refresh my Hindi. Only last night, I read his last short story ‘Cricket Match’ which was published after his death.
This is a very beautiful song and as you have said, it is the best of the songs from this film. I guess, in this song there is some element of teasing going on between ‘nanadi’ ( Shubha Khote) and ‘bhauji’ (Nirupa Roy) and Balraj Sahani seems to be enjoying the light teasing.
This song reminds the new generation of the traditional way of grinding by hand run stone grinders This stone grinder is still used as a part of marriage rituals in our side where both bride and bridegroom are required to grind the black gram under the guidance from their elders. These grinders have gone into oblivion even in some rural places like my own village where I find these have been replaced by electric stone grinders.
I heard the missing (??) words ‘takeela’. Since I do not know the meaning of word, I am not sure whether it fits in the lyrics.
There is no difference in lyrics jotted by me with the one you have given except that for ‘titiriya’ I had jotted down the word as ‘tikiriya’. But I feel ‘titiriya’ may be correct.
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May 12, 2012 at 9:26 am
The “chakki”, as this hand grinder is called in Hindi was commonplace in villages. It could still be available in remote villages. Working in “chakki” is supposed to be a good exercise for one’s tummy.
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May 12, 2012 at 9:57 am
I forgot to mention that there were two lyricists for this film – Shailendra and Prem Dhawan. In one of the video clips,, this song is accredited to Prem Dhawan. I also saw the survey of films songs of Roshan on ‘gitaayan’ and as per the list appearing there, the song is written by Prem Dhawan.
Though the song fits into the style of Shailendra, I do not have GK to recheck the name of the lyricist.
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May 12, 2012 at 10:09 am
The lyrics uses “Bihari” words that were right up Shailendra’s alley. We will need to get confirmation from someone who has the geet kosh. I have checked up from other sources and they mention Shailendra as the lyricist.
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