A 1957 printed account

Pran Nath Seth’s contribution to a 1957 Kurukshetra feature on Indian lullabies presents several Punjabi examples. His commentary draws attention to repeated sound syllables as well as words with a narrative meaning. The printed songs bring milk, wheat, household work and hopes for the child into the singing. These ordinary materials help show how the imagined future of a child can be expressed through familiar domestic surroundings. Seth’s account is a particular mid-century representation of the genre, including the expectations its writer selected for readers.[1]

Remembering while holding a child

Gitanjali Chawla reports a field visit to Kuthala, near Malerkotla, in her 2020 study of selected Punjabi lullabies. Asked to sing loris they had used with their children, a group of women did not begin immediately. They said they needed a child in their lap; singing followed when a child was placed with the lead singer. The episode connects remembering with a bodily and social situation. Chawla also reads selected lullabies for the aspirations and gendered expectations they can carry alongside affection. Her analysis treats a gentle address to a child as a place where personal wishes and wider social demands can meet.[2]

A shrine-related performance

Anupam Sood and Manu Sharma describe another setting in their account of Sakhi Sarwar-related practices. A family may bring a child after fulfilling a vow associated with the shrine. In the sequence they describe, a Sheikh Bhrai performer holds the child, begins the singing and is joined by others. The child is returned to the parents, and the family offers money, clothes or food. Here lori belongs to a collective act of thanksgiving and devotion, with specialist performers and an exchange of offerings. The authors describe protection and blessing as participants’ beliefs. The occasion broadens the documented uses of the term beyond the intimate scene of a caregiver singing at home.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Pran Nath Seth; Kurukshetra 6(2), Ministry of Community Development/Publications Division. Lullabies of India — Punjab ↗historical printed account · Source date: 1957-11-14 · Locator: Kurukshetra 6(2),14 November 1957, printed 206/PDF24, Punjab contribution signed Pran Nath Seth and its three printed examples; title/contents PDF3–4. Accessed 2026-11-02.The actual Punjab contribution at printed 206/PDF24 and issue title/contents were read; the original printed page was visually inspected. Its examples are treated as a 1957 representation. No lyrics, nutrition claims or page image are reproduced.Return to A 1957 printed account, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. Gitanjali Chawla, Department of English, Maharaja Agrasen College, University of Delhi; JETIR7(10),2317–2320. Soothing Meters or Complex Negotiations: The Polemics of Select Lullabies from Punjab ↗scholarly interpretive article · Source date: 2020-10 · Locator: JETIR7(10), printed 2318/PDF2, Kuthala field-visit paragraph continuing onto printed 2319/PDF3; selected interpretive discussion of kinship and aspiration. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual paper inspected, especially the author’s Kuthala field-visit passage. Borrowed Nahar/Gill lyrics, medical claims and incorrect Ranjit Singh chronology are excluded. The account describes a selected group and occasion.Return to Remembering while holding a child, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. Anupam Sood and Manu Sharma; Gyankosh: An Interdisciplinary Journal 3, pp 84–96; Guru Gobind Singh College for Women, Chandigarh. Lullabies and Ardas (Tahardua) Related to Sakhi-Sarwar ↗scholarly article · Source date: 2020-12 · Locator: Gyankosh 3, December 2020, printed 86/PDF3, Sakhi Sarwar-related vow, child-holding, group response and offering sequence; bibliography printed 95–96/PDF12–13, especially Darya 2004 at notes 3–5. Accessed 2026-11-01.Actual relevant shrine passages and bibliography inspected in the 13-page paper. The selected account cites Darya’s 2004 Punjabi Lok Dharam: Ek Adhyan, pp 118–123. No independent fieldwork, protective effect or universal practice is claimed; adjacent dictionary definitions are excluded.Return to A shrine-related performance, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-CUL-0070 · English edition · human review not performed