Hathi Raja Kahan Chale
Hindi Nursery Rhyme
Original Lyrics
Hindi script
हाथी राजा कहाँ चले?सूँड़ हिलाते कहाँ चले?दिल्ली जाकर क्या लाओगे?हमको क्या-क्या दे जाओगे?
Romanized (pronunciation)
Hathi raja kahan chale?Soond hilate kahan chale?Dilli jaakar kya laoge?Humko kya-kya de jaoge?
English Translation
King Elephant, where are you off to?Swaying your trunk, where are you off to?When you reach Delhi, what will you bring?What sorts of things will you give us?
Translation Notes
Vocabulary
हाथी (hathi) - elephant राजा (raja) - king कहाँ (kahan) - where सूँड़ (soond) - trunk (of an elephant) हिलाते (hilate) - swaying, moving दिल्ली (Dilli) - Delhi, the capital city लाओगे (laoge) - will you bring देना (dena) - to give
Grammar Notes
Future tense "-oge": laoge (you will bring) and de jaoge (you will give) use the -oge ending, the future form for tum ("you," the friendly form used with an elephant-friend). It tells the listener the action is still to come.
Conjunctive participle "jaakar": Dilli jaakar means "having gone to Delhi" or "on reaching Delhi." Adding -kar to a verb stem chains two actions, so the elephant first goes, then brings something back.
Reduplication "kya-kya": doubling kya (what) into kya-kya asks "what all" or "which various things," inviting a whole list rather than a single answer. This repeating trick is common in Hindi and Urdu.
Line-by-Line Translation
हाथी राजा कहाँ चले? (Hathi raja kahan chale?) - "King Elephant, where are you off to?"
- हाथी (hathi) = elephant
- राजा (raja) = king
- कहाँ चले (kahan chale) = where are you going
सूँड़ हिलाते कहाँ चले? (Soond hilate kahan chale?) - "Swaying your trunk, where are you off to?"
- सूँड़ (soond) = trunk
- हिलाते (hilate) = swaying, waving
दिल्ली जाकर क्या लाओगे? (Dilli jaakar kya laoge?) - "When you reach Delhi, what will you bring?"
- दिल्ली (Dilli) = Delhi
- जाकर (jaakar) = having gone
- क्या लाओगे (kya laoge) = what will you bring
हमको क्या-क्या दे जाओगे? (Humko kya-kya de jaoge?) - "What sorts of things will you give us?"
- हमको (humko) = to us
- क्या-क्या (kya-kya) = what all, which various things
- दे जाओगे (de jaoge) = will you give
History and Meaning
"Hathi Raja Kahan Chale" is a rhyme built entirely of questions a child fires at an elephant lumbering past: Where are you going? What will you bring back from Delhi? What will you give me? The elephant, addressed politely as raja (king), never answers, which is the fun of it. Children can invent whatever gifts they like.
Every line ends on the same -le / -oge rhyme, so the verse bounces along at the pace of an elephant's walk.
Origins
The rhyme belongs to the oral balgeet tradition of North India and has no documented author or year. It appears in early-grade Hindi readers and is often paired with a swaying, trunk-swinging action as children pretend to be the elephant. Longer versions circulate in which the elephant promises toys, sweets, or clothes, but the four-line question set here is the part everyone knows.
Meaning & Interpretation
The elephant is a familiar figure of gentle power in India, and calling it raja casts it as a kindly royal who might return from the capital with presents. For a young child the appeal is simple: a huge, friendly animal is heading to a faraway city, and the rhyme lets them imagine what it might carry home. It doubles as an easy way to teach the words for elephant, trunk, and the city of Delhi.
Why is the elephant called "raja"?
Raja means king. Indian tradition links elephants with royalty, temples, and processions, where decorated elephants have long carried kings and deities. Addressing the animal as "King Elephant" is a mark of affection and respect, and it fits the sing-song rhythm.
What does Hathi Raja Kahan Chale teach children?
It models simple question-and-answer speech. Because every line is a question, parents and teachers use it to prompt children to reply with their own inventions, naming gifts and places, which builds vocabulary and imagination.
Free Printable Coloring Page
Print this Hathi Raja Kahan Chale coloring sheet for free and let little ones bring it to life with crayons or pencils.
Lyrics from nurseryrhymes.info