MUMBAI: 2 October marks the birth anniversary of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi or popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi. The father of nation is revered across India for his ideals and philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi was known for bringing a confluence between real life and spirituality and music was undoubtedly apart of it. The fusion of music, prayers, hymns with his political ideologies and meetings has been documented. Some of the devotional songs or bhajans associated with him are Vaishanav Janto and Raghu Pati Raghav Rajaram. Let’s understand the significance and brief history of this iconic song.

Quite contrary to what people believe, this is not penned by Mahatma Gandhi, but by Sri Lakshmanacharya in old religious text, and the original lyrics differ from the one that is practised today. Another myth is that it is a patriotic song; however, the original composition can be best described as a bhajan glorifying Lord Rama.

Original Lyrics:

Raghupati raghava rajaram, patita paavana sitaram. Sundara vigraha meghashyam, Ganga tulasi salagram. Bhadra girishwara sitaram, Bhagat janapriya sitaram. Janaki ramana sitaram, Jaya jaya raghava sitaramThis bhajan is also known as Ram Dhun in the regional areas

Years later, during Salt or also known as Dandi March in 1930, Gandhiji and his 80 satyagrahis chanted this bhajan

The bhajan is musically developed by one of the pillars of Indian Music and a revered musicologist Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, who was a follower of Gandhiji

Though not originally written by Gandhiji, he developed the lyrics and text matching the secular and harmonious thoughts he believed in by adding few verses

The Gandhi Version

Raghupati raghava rajaram, paavana sitaram, bhaj pyaare tu sitaram ishwar allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de bhagwan.

The bhajan has since then been reprised multiple times on celluloid be it movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai, Kuch Kuch Hota hai and many more. The lyrics by Gandhiji preaches harmony and peace among communities- a much-needed factor in today’s world.