If You are the mountain, I am the peacock: a garland of loving pairs, and a vow never to break the one bond that gives the self its meaning.
The Arc
One of Ravidas's most beloved shabads, a chain of tender images. Pauri 0: You the mountain, I the peacock; You the moon, I the moon-gazing partridge. The Rahao (Pauri 1) is the heart: if You never break with me, I never will, for who else could I hold onto? Pauri 2: You the lamp, I the wick; You the pilgrimage, I the pilgrim. Pauri 3: true love joined to You, loosed from all else. Pauri 4: wherever I go, I serve You, there is no other. Pauri 5 closes: singing Your praises cuts every knot of fear, and Ravidas sings for love's own sake.
Key Vocabulary
girivar / moraa: the mountain and the peacock that dances on it
chand / chakoraa: the moon and the partridge in love with its light
tum na torahu tau ham nahee torahi: if You do not break, I will not break, the vow of belonging
deevaraa / baatee: the lamp and the wick
jam phaansaa: the knots of fear, cut by loving song
Themes and Cross-Connections
A luminous expression of philosophy.md's relational bhakti: the self finds its meaning only in nearness to the One (mountain/peacock, moon/partridge). The lamp-and-wick and pilgrimage-and-pilgrim pairs honor devotional practice by turning it inward. The vow of unbreakable belonging is a keynote of the whole Bhagat section.
For Raag Sorath
Sorath's devotional warmth is the perfect vessel for this garland of love-images, intimate, tender, and utterly reachable for a child.
Translation Notes
BHAGAT ATTRIBUTION: signed gaavai Ravidaasaa, ||5||5||, so titled and commented as Bhagat Ravidas.
INTERFAITH: pilgrimage honored lovingly (You the sacred river, I the glad pilgrim), turned inward toward the Beloved as destination.
WELLBEING: jam phaansaa (death's noose) rendered as knots of fear undone by loving song; the accent is on release and joy, not dread.
If You are the mountain, I am the peacock: a garland of loving pairs, and a vow never to break the one bond that gives the self its meaning.
The Arc
One of Ravidas's most beloved shabads, a chain of tender images. Pauri 0: You the mountain, I the peacock; You the moon, I the moon-gazing partridge. The Rahao (Pauri 1) is the heart: if You never break with me, I never will, for who else could I hold onto? Pauri 2: You the lamp, I the wick; You the pilgrimage, I the pilgrim. Pauri 3: true love joined to You, loosed from all else. Pauri 4: wherever I go, I serve You, there is no other. Pauri 5 closes: singing Your praises cuts every knot of fear, and Ravidas sings for love's own sake.
Key Vocabulary
Themes and Cross-Connections
A luminous expression of philosophy.md's relational bhakti: the self finds its meaning only in nearness to the One (mountain/peacock, moon/partridge). The lamp-and-wick and pilgrimage-and-pilgrim pairs honor devotional practice by turning it inward. The vow of unbreakable belonging is a keynote of the whole Bhagat section.
For Raag Sorath
Sorath's devotional warmth is the perfect vessel for this garland of love-images, intimate, tender, and utterly reachable for a child.
Translation Notes
Last updated: 2026