Tuntun-tuntun-taara
Baje raat ke baaran
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
Baje raat ke baaran
Chhat par billi bhaagi hai,
Neend se (Baby) jaagi hai
Chhat par billi bhaagi hai,
Neend se (Baby) jaagi hai
Billi ne chuhe ko maara
Hai!
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
Baje raat ke baaran
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
Baje raat ke baaran
Galli me bola chawkidaar,
“Choron se rehna hushiyar”
Galli me bola chawkidaar,
“Choron se rehna hushiyar”
Chawkidaar ne chor ko maara
Hai!
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
Baje raat ke baaran
Translation:
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
It struck 12 o’clock (Chorus)
Tuntun-tuntun-taara
It struck 12 o’clock
The cat ran along the roof
(Baby) woke up from her sleep
The cat ran along the roof
(Baby) woke up from her sleep
The cat killed the mouse
Hai!
(Chorus) x 2
In the street the guardsman said,
“Beware of thieves!”
In the street the guardsman said,
“Beware of thieves!”
The guard killed the thief
Hai!
(Chorus)
Analysis: For some reason, similar to many Western nursery rhymes and lullabies, this song is a particularly violent one. It talks about the elimination of a small threat (a mouse) and then of a much larger, much more serious threat (a thief). But this elimination takes place in a very definitive, violent manner–murder, essentially. Unlike Western lullabies, however (some that come to mind are Rockabye Baby, Rain Rain Go Away, Old Daddy Long Legs, and Sing a Song of Sixpence), the violence is not perpetrated on children or seemingly innocent bystanders, but on entities who do pose a real threat to the health and safety of the child and indeed the whole family and therefore could be said to “deserve what they got”. Mice spread disease and could ruin a family’s crop and thereby cause them to starve. Thieves also could cause financial ruin and would not hesitate to do away with any family member who discovered them robbing the house in the dead of night. In rural areas, or places that didn’t have a very trustworthy law enforcement and protection system, the idea that there were people (or animals) that would be able to protect a child from harm must have been very comforting.