{"id":646,"date":"2025-09-04T11:12:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T15:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/?p=646"},"modified":"2025-10-28T12:23:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T16:23:26","slug":"counting-riddle-solved-and-so-much-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/2025\/09\/04\/counting-riddle-solved-and-so-much-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting riddle solved and so much more!"},"content":{"rendered":"

I presented the counting riddle that Sunita Junu had published on Tiktok with her daughter to Dipak Tudladhar. I asked if he recognized it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dipak told me that it reminded him of a song that he had learned when he was young! I asked him to write it down for me and translate it. I also tried to gloss it.<\/p>\n

Note: “ka” can be a particle that appears in enumerations. From K\u00f6lver’s dictionary:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Where I think we have this use of it, I’m glossing it as “enum”.<\/p>\n

Here’s how it goes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Newar Counting Rhyme (as recalled by Dipak Tuladhar)<\/strong><\/p>\n

1 (cha)
\n\u092a\u093e\u0901\u092f\u094d\u200c\u092e\u094d\u0935: <\/span>\u0928\u093f\u092e\u094d\u0935: <\/span>\u091b\u0924\u0915\u093e
\np\u0101\u1e41<\/span>y\u200cmva: nimva: chatak\u0101
\n<\/span>coins two one-rupee
\n2 coins of rupee one
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

2 (ni)
\n\u0932\u094b\u0939\u0902\u092e\u093e\u092f\u094d\u200c <\/span>\u0905\u091a\u093e\u0930\u094d <\/span>\u0928\u093f\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nloha\u1e43<\/span>m\u0101y\u200c ac\u0101r nita k\u0101
\n<\/span>in.grinder pickles grinded enum
\nGrinded<\/span> pickles in traditional stone grinder<\/p>\n

3 (sva)
\n\u0935 <\/span>\u092e\u093f\u0938\u093e\u0902 <\/span>\u091c\u093f\u0924: <\/span>\u0938\u094d\u0935\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nva mis\u0101\u1e43<\/span> jita: svata k\u0101
\n<\/span>that lady at-me looked enum
\nThat lady looked at<\/span> me<\/p>\n

4 (pya)
\n\u091c\u093e <\/span>\u0928\u092f\u0947\u0917\u0941 <\/span>\u092a\u094d\u092f\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nj\u0101 nayegu pyata k\u0101
\n<\/span>rice eating four-th enum
\nEating rice on fourth (dining) floor<\/span><\/p>\n

5 (nya)
\n\u0932\u0916\u092f\u094d <\/span>\u0935\u0948\u092a\u093f\u0902 <\/span>\u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924 <\/span>\u0915\u093e
\nlakhay vaipi\u1e43<\/span> ny\u0101ta k\u0101
\n<\/span>in-water come fish-pl\u00a0enum
\nFishes<\/span> come in water<\/p>\n

6 (khu)
\n\u091a\u093e\u0928\u094d\u0939\u092f\u094d <\/span>\u0935\u0948\u092a\u093f\u0902 <\/span>\u0916\u0941\u0901\u0924 <\/span>\u0915\u093e
\nc\u0101nhay vaipi\u1e43<\/span> khu<\/span>\u1e41<\/span>ta k\u0101
\n<\/span>at-night come thief-pl\u00a0enum
\nThieves<\/span> come at night<\/p>\n

7 (nhay)
\n\u0938\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0939\u093e\u0928\u0947 <\/span>\u0924\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0925\u0903 <\/span>\u0928\u094d\u0939\u092f\u094d\u200c\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nsv\u0101h\u0101ne tv\u0101tha\u1e25<\/span> nhay\u200cta k\u0101
\n<\/span>step ladder seven-pl enum
\nLadder has 7 steps<\/span><\/p>\n

8 (cya)
\n\u092d\u0941\u0924\u0941\u0932\u093f\u0907 <\/span>\u092e\u093f <\/span>\u091a\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nbhutulii mi cy\u0101ta k\u0101
\n<\/span>kitchen fire burning enum
\nFire<\/span> at kitchen stove<\/p>\n

9 (gu)
\n\u092d\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0925:<\/span>\u0917\u0941 <\/span>\u0932\u0902 <\/span>\u0917\u0941\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nbhv\u0101tha:gu la\u1e43<\/span> guta k\u0101<\/span>
\nclothes old torn enum
\nOld clothes torn<\/span><\/p>\n

10 (jhi)
\n\u0935 <\/span>\u092e\u093f\u0938\u093e <\/span>\u091b\u092e\u094d\u0939\u0902 <\/span>\u091d\u0940\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nva mis\u0101 chamha\u1e43<\/span> jh\u012bta k\u0101
\n<\/span>that girl take for-us enum
\nTake that girl for us<\/span><\/p>\n

The last word of each line has a double meaning. In addition to the meaning given in the translation, it can mean ‘N rupees’, where N is the number of the line. For example,\u00a0jhi\u00a0<\/em>also means ’10’, so\u00a0jhitaka<\/em> means ’10 rupees’.<\/p>\n

I am hoping that Dipak will teach his version to the kids at his school, so I made a handout that he can use for this, with pictures for each line:
\nCounting song – ink no English<\/a><\/p>\n

From another consultant named Raj Kaji Shakya, I got translations for all of the lines in Sunita Junu’s version.<\/p>\n

Newar Counting Rhyme (as presented by Sunita Junu)<\/strong>
\nEnglish translation in collaboration with Raj Kaji Shakya<\/p>\n

1 (cha)
\n\u091b\u092e\u094d\u0935\u0903 \u091b\u092e\u094d\u0935\u0903 \u091b\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nchamva\u1e25 chamva\u1e25 chataka
\none-mohar one-mohar one-rupee
\nOne mohar + one mohar = one rupee<\/p>\n

2 (ni)
\n\u091d\u0940 \u0928\u093f\u092e\u094d\u0939\u200b \u0928\u093f\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\njh\u012b nimha nita k\u0101
\n1pl two-cl.anim two-pl enum
\nWe two make two<\/p>\n

3
\n\u0939\u0941\u0902 \u092e\u0928\u0941\u0916\u0902 \u0938\u094d\u0935\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nhu\u1e43 manukha\u1e43 svata k\u0101
\nthat person look enum
\nThat person is looking [for us]<\/p>\n

4
\n\u092d\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0925\u0903\u0917\u0941 \u091b\u0947\u0901 \u092a\u093f\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nbhv\u0101tha\u1e25gu cheM pita ka
\nentire house demolish enum
\nThe house is being demolished<\/p>\n

5
\n\u0915\u0941\u0928\u094d\u0924\u093f \u0926\u0947\u0917\u0903 \u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924\u0947\u0902 \u0915\u093e
\nkunti dega\u1e25 ny\u0101te\u1e43 k\u0101
\nkunti temple five-? KA
\nThe Kunti temple [in Patan] has five steps<\/p>\n

6
\n\u092e\u0902\u0917\u0932\u092f\u094d \u0915\u093e\u092a\u0903 \u0916\u0941\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nma\u1e43galay k\u0101pa\u1e25 khuta k\u0101
\n[place name] clothes tattered\/torn KA
\nMangalay clothes torn apart<\/p>\n

7
\n\u0938\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0939\u093e\u0928\u0947 \u0924\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0925\u0903 \u0928\u094d\u0939\u092f\u094d\u200c\u0924\u0901 \u0915\u093e
\nsv\u0101h\u0101ne tv\u0101tha\u1e25 nhayta k\u0101
\nstep ladder seven steps
\n[traditional Newar houses have seven steps]<\/p>\n

8
\n\u092c\u0939\u0928\u0940 \u092e\u0924\u0903 \u091a\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nbahan\u012b mata\u1e25 cy\u0101ta k\u0101
\nevening light born enum
\nThe evening light was born
\n9
\n\u092d\u094d\u0935\u093e\u0925\u0903\u0917\u0941 \u0932\u0902 \u0917\u0941\u0924 \u0915\u093e
\nbhv\u0101tha\u1e25gu la\u1e43 guta k\u0101
\nold clothes torn enum
\nOld clothes torn apart<\/p>\n

10
\n\u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924\u0915\u093e \u0928\u094d\u092f\u093e\u0924\u0915\u093e \u091d\u093f\u0924\u0915\u093e
\nny\u0101tak\u0101 ny\u0101tak\u0101 jhitak\u0101
\nfive-rupee five-rupee ten-rupee
\nFive rupees and five rupees make ten rupees<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two versions! Raj Kaji Shakya said that he thought that Sunita Junu’s version was from Patan, based on a number of Patan-specific things in the song.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I presented the counting riddle that Sunita Junu had published on Tiktok with her daughter to Dipak Tudladhar. I asked if he recognized it. Dipak told me that it reminded him of a song that he had learned when he was young! I asked him to write it down for me and translate it. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14844,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":649,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646\/revisions\/649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/lislab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}