The great 15 Bihar’s Khaanti dialects: Old Proverbs of Bihar

It is quite possible to derive nourishment and sustenance from food without salt ; but if we want to enjoy our meals, we must have salt in them. If we wish to  relish language, if we wish to give it  point and piquancy, and if we want to drive home a truth, to whip up the flagging attention of our listener to  point a moral or adorn a tale, we must  flavor our speech with proverbs.

1.

Cutting off the head and pretending to preserve the hair.
Moonr kati bal ke rachchha.
You make a show of preserving the hair, while you are  really cutting off the head.

2.

Father a drunkard and the son pretending to play  the rule of a religious man.
Baap ke gale labni,poot ke gale Rudrachh
The father has a lubni(Earthen pot of toddy) tied to his neck while the son wears a necklace of  Rudraksh (A sacred herb, Elcocarpus ganitrus)

4. 

Pretended delicacy.
Kahawe ke bulbul, leele ke gullar.
She calls herself a bulbul, but swallows a gular

5.

 Old in sin and yet a novice.
Larika khait khait hurhi bhaili ; log kahe, bakdain
I have grown old in experience of. in eating children, 

A life’s boarding lost at a stroke.
Sahu batore kauri kauri, Ram batore kuppa.

7.

Aping your betters causes discomfort.
Bina ban tilak leelar charcharae.
Whoever applies a tilalk, being unaccustomed to it, will
find his forehead skin-chapped. Said to ridicule one who apes the habits of his betters and finds that he is not made  comfortable thereby. 

 Paying dearly for aping.
Ankar sendur dekh ke apan kapar phorin

If I see vermilion on another’s forehead, am I to crack
my own ?(i.e. cause it to bleed so as to appear as if I have also applied vermilion?).

The anvil bears the missing stroke.
Hukal chot nehai par.
The missing (or empty) stroke falls on the anvil. Usually said when a man is angry with one and vents his rage on another weaker than himself,on one who is usually the butt of his anger.

 Entirely at your mercy.
Mar-kat piya tore aas.
Whether you kill or save, I am at your mercy .

11.

Venting one’s rage on the innocent.
Thhes lage pahare, ghar ke phori silwat. 

I receive a knock from a rock, but vent my rage on the grinding-stone at home by breaking it. Usually said by the wife who has to put up with the rage of the husband if he has met with any reverse or disappointment in the world.

 12.

Proclaiming before the son is born.
Beta bhaile na kail, pahile danda dor.
The son is not yet born, but a beat of the drum proclaims the event before hand.

Conceit about one’s wisdom.
Bidhi rachal buddhi sarhe tin
Teh men adha jagat appan tin.
God made wisdom of three parts and a half, of which
the half went to the world, the rest3 to him ; i.e. according  to the person aimed at, the whole world has got only the half, while he possesses the remaining three parts.

14.

 Expenditure on a thing more than its worth.

15.

Nokaro ke chakar tekaro lamaichar.
Servant to a servant and on him another dependent.
‘Lamaichar” is probably connected with lamera,” which is the seed which falls on the ground in the field at harvest time, and which germinates next year .

16.

Critics say more than the poet.
Thhor kailan Tulsidas bahut kailan kabita

Little was said by the poet Tulsldas, but a great deal
was added by the other poets and commentators.