Bolo mukund madhav jai ghanshyaam
Posted on: November 9, 2013
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a regular contributor to this blog. This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in sites like lyricstrans.com and ibollywoodsongs.com etc then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
Today’s song is the 5th one in the series “The Great Souls of India”. It is from the film-“Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu”-1953, for which the great composer from the East, Raichand Boral( R C Boral) had given the music.
Truly speaking, Great Souls do not belong to any specific area, state, region or a language. They belong to India and their language is Love for God and Compassion for the downtrodden. Without exception, the Saints never limited their teachings only to religious matters but they also advocated social reforms. Indian sentiments accept more easily,anything given through Religion. This, precisely, was what the selfish upper caste priestly classes had done earlier, to subjugate the unsuspecting masses,by falsely pushing their private agendas,in the garb of religious scripture tenets.
Understanding this, the Saints tried to bring the Holy books and the religious tenets into vernacular languages,to make the masses realise what the Truth was. They also propogated the reformative informations from the Holy books through their Keertans, Akhyans, Dohas, Abhanga, owees and Chaupais.
During the Bhakti movement period, almost all regions had their own saints and Great Bhakts. One such Great soul enlightened the people of Eastern India.
He was known as Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
In a short life span of just 48 years (1486-1534), he did an extraordinary religious and reformative work in the 16th century in the regions of East Bengal (now in Bangla Desh), West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Assam and Orissa. Not much information is available about him in other regions, so here is a short Biography of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, adapted and edited from Stephen-Knapp.com-with thanks….
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu [pronounced Chaitanya] (February 27,1486 to 1534 A.D.) was born in Navadvipa, Bengal, on a full moon night during a lunar eclipse. It is typical for people to bathe in the Ganges during an eclipse and chant the Lord’s holy names for spiritual purification. So, everyone in the area was chanting the holy names when He was born. His parents, Jagannatha Misra and Sachidevi, gave Him the name of Vishvambhara, meaning the support of the universe, because astrologers had predicted His super human qualities and that He would deliver the people of the world. He was also nicknamed Nimai because He had been born under a nima tree.
During His childhood He exhibited extraordinary qualities, even having philosophical discussions with His mother. While growing, His brilliant intelligence began to become apparent. While still a child, He mastered Sanskrit and logic to the point of defeating local pundits, and established the truth of His spiritual and Vedic philosophy. He became so well known that many logicians of various religious and philosophical persuasions began to fear His presence and refused to debate with Him. Thus, Sri Chaitanya established the authority of the Vaishnava tradition through the process of debate and logic.
Then, when Sri Chaitanya went to Gaya on the pretext to perform ceremonies for the anniversary of His father’s death, He received Vaishnava initiation from Ishvara Puri. Thereafter, He lost all interest in debate and simply absorbed Himself in chanting and singing the names of Lord Krishna in devotional ecstasy. Upon returning to Navadvipa, He gathered a following with whom He would engage in congregational singing of the Lord’s holy names. Thus, He started the first sankirtana (congregational devotional singing) movement, and established the importance of chanting the names of God in this age as the most elevated of spiritual processes, and the prime means for liberation from material attachments.At first, His chanting with people was for the few participants who were a part of His group, but then Sri Chaitanya ordered that the ecstasy of love of God be distributed to all people of the area. He gave no recognition for the privileges of caste, or for position, or type of philosophy a person had, or yogic asceticism. He only emphasized the devotional chanting of the Lord’s holy names, using the Hare Krishna mantra (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare) which can bring out the natural loving sentiments for God.
It was at the age of 24 when He shaved His head and took the order of sannyasa, the renounced stage of life, when He accepted the name of Krishna Chaitanya from Keshava Bharati during the initiation. He then spent four years traveling through South India, and also visited Vrindavana and Varanasi. During this time he also gave special instructions to Rupa and Sanatana Gosvamis, who then also spread the glories of the Divine Love for Radha and Krishna. They settled in Vrindavana where they spent their years in writing many books elaborating the instructions of Lord Chaitanya and the glories of bhakti for Radha and Krishna. They also revealed the places where Radha and Krishna performed many varied pastimes in that land of Vrindavana, which have remained special spots where devotees can become absorbed in the bliss of love of Radha and Krishna.
Lord Chaitanya spent His remaining years in Jagannatha Puri. During this time He was absorbed in ecstatic devotion to Krishna in the loving mood of Radharani, in which He would lose all external consciousness. He freely distributed the divine nectar of this love for Krishna to everyone and anyone, day and night. Even His presence or mere touch could transform everyone that came near Him into the same devotional mood. He remained like this until He finally left our vision at the age of 48.
Lord Chaitanya is considered and was established by Vedic scripture as the most recent incarnation of God. The Lord always descends to establish the codes of religion. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (4.6-8) where Lord Krishna explains that although He is unborn and the Lord of all living beings, He still descends in His spiritual form in order to re-establish the proper religious principles and annihilate the miscreants whenever there is a decline of religion and a rise in irreligious activity.
The film,”Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu” was made by Prakash Pictures,Bombay. It was directed by Vihay Bhatt and the music was by Rai chand Boral, ably assisted by D.C.Boral, Ali Hussain and Jaidev Sheel. The cast was Bharat Bhushan, Ameeta, Durga Khote, Kanhaiya lal, B M Vyas, Madan Puri, Umakant, Pinakin Shah, Narbada Shankar etc. The Lyrics were written by Bharat Vyas, who specialised in Mythological and Devotional films due to his excellent command over Hindi language. Originally there were 14 songs, but later on 2 more songs were added to the film.
The story of the film was-
It happened in the fifteenth Century. . The tyranny of the rulers, the hypocrisy of the priests, the meaningless austerity of the pedantic Pandits who had turned away from God and the apathy of the rich towards the poor – all combined together to create a chaos in the midst of which the soul of the country prayed for a Messiah. And a Messiah was born in the house of Jagannath Mistra, in the year 1486, on the night of Lunar eclipse when the sky was rent up with the sacred name of Hari. Chaitanya was that Messiah. . After the death of eight children, Biswarup was the ninth son and Chaitanya was the tenth issue. . He was named as Vishwambhar but was called by his mother Sachi Devi as Nimai, whereas the neighbours used to call him Gouranga because he was extremely fair-looking. Nimai was very wild in his childhood and resembled very much the boy Krishna.
As Nimai grew up the economic condition of the family became very bad. Kalipada Basu, the money-lending neighbour, began to press hard for his dues. He was an evil-minded man who was associated with a low- spirited Tantrik named Bhairabananda and used to blaspheme and belittle the Vashnavas. . Nimai became young and completed his education only to lose his father for ever. He earned reputation as a Pandit, won the love of all for his sacrificing, loving nature and his devotion to God. Kalipada tried to occupy his house but failed.
Nimai started a school of his own. A career being settled Nimai was now married to Vishnupriya, daughter of the Court-Pandit Sanatan Misra. The death anniversary of his father approached and Nimai went to Gaya. After having a darshan of the Vishnu-Pada-Padma in the temple and after listening to the Krishna-Leela from a Sadhu named Iswarpuri, Nimai fainted. The power that was so long waiting and lying dormant in him now broke up. Thereafter he seemed a changed man. He was lost as a husband to Vishnupriya, lost as a son to Sachi Devi. He was lost IN Krishna and was all the time crying.
Thereafter he changed totally to Krishna Bhakti. He started many keertan schools and hundreds of people became his followers. He did lot of miracles too.
He converted the local Qazi to krishna bhakti,who had come to convert him to Islam. Chaitanya travelled to Puri and from there toured South india,upto Cape Comarin (Kanyakumari),winning many learned scholars to his following.He came back to Puri and after 18 years in Puri,one day simply disappeared with his soul and body,while doing keertan.
Here is a very rare soulful Bhajan by Mohd. Rafi,from this film….
Song-Bolo Mukund Madhav jai Ghanshyam (Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu)(1953) Singer-Rafi, Lyrics-Bharat Vyas, MD- R C Boral
Chorus
Lyrics
deenbandhu bhav sindhu taarak
adham udhaarak sri ghanshyam
shyamal sundar madhur manohar
manmohak moorat abhiraam
bolo mukund maadhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyam
bolo mukund madhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyaam
deenbandhu bhav sindhu taarak
adham udhaarak srighanshyaam
shyaamal sundar madhur manohar
manmohak moorat abhiraam
bolo mukund maadhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyam
ho o o
o o o o
o o o
ajaameen se
paapi tal gaye
le kar naaraayan ka naam
hua ??
bol ke paawan hari ka naam
bolo mukund maadhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyaam
bolo mukund madhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyaam
bolo mukund madhav
jai ghanshyaam
devakinandan raadheshyam
bolo Shyaam Raadhe
bolo Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
Shyaam Raadhe
3 Responses to "Bolo mukund madhav jai ghanshyaam"
November 11, 2013 at 7:59 am
Great write ups indeed. Thanks a lot to both Arunkumar ji and Nitin ji.There is one more beautiful bhajan in the film sung by Manna da ” Jai Jai Sri Krishna Chaitanya ….” KIndly upl;oad.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
November 9, 2013 at 2:01 pm
Lord Chaitanya left us only eight verses, called Shikhsastakam, in which His mission and precepts are revealed. The first is as below:
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu recommended: ceto-darpana-marjanam. Marjanam means “cleanse,” and darpanam means “mirror.” The heart is a mirror. It is like a camera. Just as a camera takes all kinds of pictures of days and nights, so also our heart takes pictures and keeps them in an unconscious state (Subconsciousness).
The birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu popularly known as Mayapur is located on the banks of the Ganges river, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi, near Navadveep, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata(Calcutta). The headquarters of ISKCON are situated in Mayapur and it is considered a holy place by a number of other traditions within Hinduism, but is of special significance to followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as the birthplace of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, regarded as a special incarnation of Krishna in the mood of Radha. It is visited by over a million pilgrims annually.
Mayapur can be reached by boat, and more commonly by train or bus. ISKCONKolkata operates regular bus service from Kolkata to Mayapur. Frequent train service is available to Krishnanagar, Nadia from Kolkata’s Sealdah Station, then 18 km by auto or cycle rickshaw to Mayapur. During the visit one can see “the huge headquarters of the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)” and “a long stream of saffron-robed devotees chanting” the Hare Krishna mantra..Hare Rama…
I visited the place about a decade ago. For all those who visit Kolkata its like a rite of passage to visit Mayapur
Also visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggmdHCOT6po
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November 9, 2013 at 4:34 pm
Nitin ji,
Thanks for this additional input.
-AD
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