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Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram written by singer/composer

Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (1872 to 1931)

well known for taking old religious songs and setting them to Indian classical music.

Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram was Mahatma Gandhi's favorite song, and was sung by him and the followers of his Satya Graha Movement on their 241 mile Salt March to Dandi during the reclamation of India from the British Empire.

This devotional song (bhajan) is dedicated to an incarnation of Vishnu (Lord of Preservation) known as Ram and his wife, Sita.  (Sita)Ram was the form of God Gandhi held in his heart, his "Ishta Devata"). Gandhi's nanny was Gandhi's first spiritual teacher, and her devotion to Ram set an example for him, and at her feet he learned the practice of the repetition of the holy name, "Ram, Ram, Ram," which became a lifelong practice and some say was his final utterance.

Gandhi's constant striving to align himself in thought, word and action with what he perceived as spiritual Truth, motivated him to study religions, philosophy and spirituality primarily through experimenting with and then witnessing the application of the principles of equality, compassion and service on humanity.  Born into a Brahman family, he continually and purposely broke traditions related to the caste system.  As Gandhi grew older, he became more and more open to accepting all paths to God, and finally even no path to God at all, as evidenced in some of his last letters to an atheist. 

 

Gandhi changed a few lyrics in this song suggesting that whether you praise God as Ram, or as Allah, God is God.  This simple change of lyrics, was a radical one, from the point of view of the Hindu fundamentalists. 

If you study the song in depth, you will find that there are regional differences in some verses.  This version was taught to me by the Carnatic singer and composer, Ganam Saraswati, and so carries a South Indian flavor.

Ragupathi Ragava moves me every time I hear it or sing it,  in the same way We Shall Overcome does.

 

by Lalita Lily Diamond

 

 

raghupati raaghava raajaaraam,

patita paavana siitaaraam

sitaram jaya sitaram, jaya sitaram

rama rama jaya rajaram, rama rama jaya sitaram

iishvara allaah tero naam,

sabuko sanmati de bhagavaan

rama rama jaya rajaram, rama rama jaya sitaram

jay jay ram, govinda hari hari

jay jay ram mukunda hari hari