Mhaane chaakar raakho jee
Posted on: December 23, 2018
This article is written by Arunkumar Deshmukh, a fellow enthusiast of Hindi movie music and a contributor to this blog.This article is meant to be posted in atulsongaday.me. If this article appears in other sites without the knowledge and consent of the web administrator of atulsongaday.me, then it is piracy of the copyright content of atulsongaday.me and is a punishable offence under the existing laws.
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My first article was posted on this Blog on 1-10-2012. Before that, for almost an year and a half, I used to post my comments on the songs posted on the Blog. In those comments, I used to give information about not only the songs, but also about the film, the cast, story. MD, Lyricist and in general any matter connected with the film or the song. For example, while commenting on a song from film Chandralekha-48, I had mentioned how Vasan made more than 100 prints of the film for its All India release and how the famous ‘ Nagara’ dance was choreographed etc etc.
Other readers gave me lot of support by liking and appreciating my informative comments. This and Atul ji encouraged me and I started writing posts on the Blog with great enthusiasm. I have always believed that Knowledge increases by sharing and indeed it did. Within a week’s time I brought up my first series on ” Less Known Singers”. Looking at the welcome it received from people in the Blog and the visitors, I continuously ran as many as 26 series of songs on selected themes.
Some themes were my favourites, like ‘ Flavour of the 30’s ‘, ‘ The vibrant 40’s ‘, ‘ Vintage Naushad “, ‘ Bhajan Mala ‘, ‘Gems from the Migrators’, and ” songs from the Artiste name films”.
One of the series was ” The Great souls of India”, which ran from 1-11-2013 to 15-11-2013, covering 10 songs. In this series I had selected songs from films on Sant Kabir, Sant Tulsidas, Sant Surdas, Sant Tukaram, Sant Dnyaneshwar, Bhakt Dhruv, Bhakt Prahlad, Narsi Bhagat, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Jagadguru Shankaracharya.
That time I regretted that I could only include 10 ‘ Great souls ‘ in the series, when another 8 to 10 were left out. I felt particularly sad that Sant Meerabai was left out. I am making amends to that lapse now. DER AAYE DURUST AAYE. It is never too late to repair the damage. So, today’s song is from a film ” Meerabai”-47. There was yet another film ” Meera’ in 1947. Two songs from that film were already discussed here, therefore I have selected this film, which makes a Debut here.
There was one thing common in these two films on Meerabai. Both films had songs predominantly sung by just One Singer. In the film ‘Meera’-47, 17 songs out of the 18 songs were sung by its Heroine M.S.Subbulakshmi. In the film ‘ Meerabai’-47, all the 13 songs were sung by Sitarabai Kanpuri. While Meera was originally a Tamil film of 1945, dubbed in Hindi in 1947, Meerabai was a fresh film made in Hindi only. In Meera, it was a feast and delight to listen to M.S. in Hindi. Her conspicuous Hindi pronunciations were never a barrier in savouring her divine rendering. Most bhajans in her film had the traditional tunes, but in film Meerabai, the MD S.K.Pal had tried newer tunes to these Bhajans. To his credit, I must say that his attempts were praiseworthy. Just listen to today’s song and you will agree with me.
Mirabai was a great saint and a devotee of Sri Krishna. Despite facing criticism and hostility from her own family, she lived an exemplary saintly life and composed many devotional bhajans. Historical information about the life of Mirabai is a matter of some scholarly debate. The oldest biographical account was Priyadas’s commentary in Nabhadas’ Sri Bhaktammal in 1712. Nevertheless, there are many oral histories, which give an insight into this unique poet and saint of India.
Mira was born around the start of the 16th Century in the Chaukari village in Merta, Rajasthan. Her father was Ratan Singh a descendant of Rao Rathor, the founder of Jodhpur. When Mirabai was only three years old, a wandering Sadhu came to her family’s home and gave a doll of Sri Krishna to her father. Her father saw this as a special blessing but was initially unwilling to give it to his daughter, because he felt she would not appreciate it. However, Mira had, at first sight, become deeply enamoured with this depiction of Lord Krishna. She refused to eat until the doll of Sri Krishna was given to her. To Mira, this figure of Sri Krishna embodied his living presence. She resolved to make Krishna her lifelong friend, lover, and husband. Throughout her turbulent life, she never wavered from her youthful commitment.
On one occasion, when Mira was still young, she saw a wedding procession going down the street. Turning to her mother, she asked in innocence, “Who will be my husband?” Her mother replied, half in jest, half in seriousness. “You already have your husband, Sri Krishna.” Mira’s mother was supportive of her daughter’s blossoming religious tendencies, but she passed away when Meera was only young.
At an early age, Mira’s father arranged for her to be married to Prince Bhoj Raj, who was the eldest son of Rana Sanga of Chittor. They were an influential Hindu family and the marriage significantly elevated Mira’s social position. However, Mira was not enamoured of the luxuries of the palace. She served her husband dutifully, but in the evening she would spend her time in devotion and singing to her beloved Sri Krishna. While singing devotional bhajans, she would frequently lose awareness of the world, entering into states of ecstasy and trance.
Her new family did not approve of her piety and devotion to Krishna. To make things worse, Mira refused to worship their family deity Durga. She said she had already committed herself to Sri Krishna. Her family became increasingly disproving of her actions, but the fame and saintly reputation of Mirabai spread throughout the region. Often she would spend time discussing spiritual issues with Sadhus, and people would join in the singing of her bhajans. However, this just made her family even more jealous. Mira’s sister-in-law Udabai started to spread false gossip and defamatory remarks about Mirabai. She said Mira was entertaining men in her room. Her husband, believing these stories to be true, tore into her room with sword in hand. However, he saw Mira only playing with a doll. No man was there at all. Throughout these hysterical slanders, Mirabai remained unmoved by both the criticism and praise of the world.
After this experience, her family continued to torture her. They restricted her movements and sought to make her life as uncomfortable as possible. In the face of all these trials and tribulations, she remained detached from her physical suffering. There was nothing that could disturb her inner connection to Giridhara (epithet of Sri Krishna as young cowherd boy). It is said that twice her family tried to kill her, once through a venomous snake and once through poisonous drink. On both occasions, it is said Mirabai, protected by the Grace of Sri Krishna, came to no ill harm.
However, the relentless torments and hostility interfered with her life of devotion and contemplation on Krishna. She sought the advice of learned men and saints. They advised her to leave the palace and return to Brindaban. Secretly, with some followers, she slipped out of the palace and escaped to the holy city of Brindaban. In Brindaban Mirabai was free to worship Giridhara to her heart’s content. She would spend her time in singing bhajans and in ecstatic communion with Krishna. Like a true Bhakti, she worshipped God wholeheartedly. The riches of the world offered no attraction to Mirabai; her only satisfaction came from her single-minded devotion to Sri Krishna. Her soul was ever yearning for Krishna. She considered herself to be a Gopi of Vrindaban, mad only with pure love for Sri Krishna.Her devotion and spiritual magnetism were infectious.
Even learned Sadhus would come to her for inspiration. There is a story of one respected Spiritual Master, who refused to speak to Mirabai because she was a woman. Mirabai replied there was only one real man in Brindaban, Sri Krishna; everyone else was a Gopi of Krishna. On hearing this, the spiritual Master accepted the wisdom of Mirabai and agreed to talk to her. Later, Mirabai would become his student.
Much of what we know about Mirabai comes from her poetry. Her poetry expresses the longing and seeking of her soul for union with Sri Krishna. At times, she expresses the pain of separation and at other times the ecstasy of divine union. Her devotional poems were designed to be sung as bhajans, and many are still sung today.
Mirabai was a devotee of the highest order. She was immune to the criticism and suffering of the world. She was born a princess but forsook the pleasures of a palace for begging on the streets of Brindaban. She lived during a time of war and spiritual decline, but her life offered a shining example of the purest devotion. Many were inspired by her infectious devotion and spontaneous love for Sri Krishna. Mirabai showed how a seeker could attain union with God, only through love. Her only message was that Krishna was her all.
It is said in her death she melted into the heart of Krishna. Tradition relates how one day she was singing in a temple when Sri Krishna appeared in his subtle form. Sri Krishna was so pleased with his dearest devotee that he opened up his heart centre, and Mirabai entered leaving her body while in the highest state of Krishna consciousness. (free adaptation from biographyonline.net, with thanks)
Film Meerabai-47 was made by Shalimar Pictures, Poona. Its direcor was W.Z.Ahmed. Lyrics were by Meerabai and MD was Suryakant aka S.K.Pal ( he was the nephew of another MD Ramchandra Pal of Bombay Talkies). The cast of the film consisted of Neena, Masood Pervez, Neelam, Tiwari, Shyama (Dulari), Ramavtar, Noorjehan sr. etc etc.
There is a general and wrong feeling among some movie buffs in India that, artistes who opted to migrate to Pakistan after partition had failed there and died in penury and misery. While some such cases indeed were there unfortunately, but not ALL had failed. On the contrary, I feel most of the Directors, Music composers and Heros succeeded in Pakistan. This was because they were all ready made available to Pakistan industry. Many of them like Khursheed Anwar, Inayat Hussain or G.A.Chisti were regarded as pioneers of Pak film industry. Same case with directors like Dawood Chand, M Sadiq, Shaukat Husaain Rizvi etc who became pillars of Pak film industry. unfortunately, once the crop of artistes who migrated from India ended their careers, their film industry had a premature death. This was because, there was no second line of artistes to take over.
The Hero of the film Meerabai-47, Masood Pervez was also one such migrant who succeeded in Pakistan. He was born in 1918 in Amritsar, Punjab, India. He passed his M.Sc. and joined films. His first film as a Hero was Punjabi film ” Mangati “-42, which became a Golden Jubilee film. He further worked in film Gulami-45 and Meerabai-47. After Partition, he went to Pakistan.
His first film as a Director in Pakistan was ‘ Beli’-50 It had a moderate success. His big breakthrough came with film ‘ Intezar ‘-56, which was a colossal hit. He directed 23 films between 1950 and 1982. he is considered to be one of the pioneers of Pak films. He directed 3 Folk stories Mirza Jat-67, Heer Ranjha-70 and again Mirza Jat-82, all very successful. he died on 11-3-2001 in Lahore. He was the nephew of Saadat Hassan Manto.
Film Meerabai-47 had 13 songs, most of them quite good. The original Meera Bhajans were translated in plain Hindi by Pt. Bharat Vyas. With this song the film makes its Debut on this Blog.
Song-Mhaane chaakar raakho jee (Meera Bai)(1947) Singer-Sitarabai Kanpuri, Lyrics-Meera bai, MD-S K Pal
Lyrics
mhaane chaakar raakho ji ee
chaakar raakho ji
sanwariyaa aa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
mhaane chaakar raakho ji ee
chaakar raakho ji
saanwariyaa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
chaakar rah toon baag lagaa doon
nis-din darshan paa toon
brindaawan ki kunj-galin mein
brindaawan ki kunj-galin mein
teri leelaa gaa toon
teri leelaa gaa toon
maane chaakar raakho ji
chaakar raakho ji
saanwariyaa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
unche unche mahal banaaun
jis bich raakhoon baari
saanwariyaa ke darshan paaun
saanwariyaa ke darshan paaun
jaaun tan man vaari
jaaun tan man vaari
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
chaakar raakho ji
saanwariyaa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
jogi aayaa jog karan koon
jogi aayaa jog karan koon
tap karne sanyaasi
hari-bhajan ko saadhu aayaa
bindraaban ke waasi
kaahe neer jhare nainan se
kaahe neer jhare nainan se
dheer dharo ji meeraa
aadhi raat prabhu darshan de hai
aadhi raat prabhu darshan de hai
prem nadi ke teeraa aa
prem nadi ke teeraa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
chaakar raakho ji
saanwariyaa
mhaane chaakar raakho ji
6 Responses to "Mhaane chaakar raakho jee"
December 24, 2018 at 9:00 am
Excellent. Keep us enthralled with such pieces.
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
December 23, 2018 at 1:35 pm
V good informative article (as usual) I was expecting to learn about Sitara Kanpuri. Waiting for the next opportunity.
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December 23, 2018 at 3:48 pm
Thanks. I did not write about Sitara kanpuri because, innumerable times she has been written about, on this Blog also. if you want, I can send her information to you separately.
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December 25, 2018 at 11:16 am
PLEASE DO.
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December 25, 2018 at 4:54 pm
Did.
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