Kaanha murlee bajaayee
Posted by: Atul on: January 14, 2026
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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Today’s song is from a Mythological film Shri Ganesh Mahima aka Shri Krishna Vivah – 1950.
This is one Genre that I have my soft corner for. I like religious songs. I find bhajans by various artists from different films so enchanting to listen to. Seeing Religious or Mythological films attracted me as much as the ‘C ‘grade action/stunt films did. I used to go to the extreme corners of the city to watch such films in absolutely dilapidated old theatres, which were affordable for the lowest strata of the society. I used to get so engrossed in seeing the action films that the presence of the third grade public passing lewd and loud comments never disturbed me ! Similarly, visiting Theatres along with the old and the senior most family members, composed mainly of old ladies to watch mythological movies was an experience to remember till date ! Later on I realised these films also provided a lot of religious knowledge, in the formative years.
Today I am going to discuss a song from a film called “Shri Ganesh Mahima” or “Shree Krishna Vivaha” -1950. The film is based on two stories. One is from Ganesh Puran and the other from Bhagwat Puran. The first part describes how the Moon laughed at Ganesha and got a curse that whoever sees Moon on Ganesh Chaturthi night will be falsely accused of a theft. The second part is how Krishna sees the Moon and is accused of a theft and while redeeming it how he gets married to Satyabhama. There was another film, “Shri krishna Satyabhama” in 1951 on the same stories. It was a bilingual film in Hindi and Marathi and was directed by Raja Paranjape(24-10-1910 to 9-2-1979).
Shreekrishna’s stories are more interesting than the Ramayana. Krishna was considered the God of common people. While Shri Rama taught how to be a good and ideal King, Krishna gave lessons on being a smart person and living life happily. Krishna indulged in Dance and music, which are close to common people.
According to Bhagwat Puran, Krishna had 16108 wives. His main 8 wives were, Rukmini, Jambuvanti, Satyabhama, Kalindi, Mitravinda, Nagnajiti, Bhadra and Lakshamana. The additional 16100 wives were those freed by Krishna from Narkasura’s jail. It is written that to give a respectable life to them, Krishna married them. He gave each one a big Palace and lots of money. He himself took 16100 identical forms and lived with them happily. Each woman had 10 sons and 1 daughter from him.
This is all symbolic. The 16100 women means 16 different arts which Krishna learnt. (Here he had scored over Rama, who knew only 14 art forms). Another interpretation is that there were 16 different qualities which Krishna imbibed. Yet another interpretation says, these were Rishis, who wanted to be with Krishna to see how he performs in this Avatar. In some scriptures, they are called Gopis from Gokula and Mathura, who wanted Krishna.
Satyabhama, Krishna’s third wife was a great warrior. She killed Narkasur, because due to a Boon granted to him by Brahma, only his mother could kill him. Satyabhama was a reincarnation of Bhu-Devi,mother of Narkasur. She punished him by killing him for ill treating women ( Mother India ? )
This film which I had seen was very interesting because of several Trick scenes and good songs. As it is, Brahma, Shani, Surya and Kartikeya are some of the Gods who are neglected in Hindi films and also in stories and Bhajans. There are hardly any temples in India worshipping Bramha or Suryadev. ( I had found that in Bihar and Eastern India, Lord Bramhadev was worshipped by the Kayasth community-Lalaji’s, who considered themselves the progeny of Chitragupt). Kartikeya is worshipped in South India as Kumar Swamy and has temples too. There are Shani temples in Maharashtra also. I know only one Sun Temple- that of Konark in Odisha.
Here is the story of this film-
Great and Miraculous powers are attributed to Shri Ganesh, the benefactor of mortals as well as the immortals. Such a benign being was once laughed at by Chandra only to be cursed by him. Realising his folly, Chandra begged for forgiveness and the curse was modified by the merciful divinity to be effective only on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi. He ordained that anybody looking at the moon on that day will be a victim of false accusations.
It was on such a day that Shri Krishna unwittingly looked at the moon and had to suffer the indignity of being falsely accused of theft of Syamantak Mani. This jewel was acquired by Satrajit, one of the Yadavas as a boon from God Sun. Shri Krishna had sent Narad to Satrajit expressing his desire to possess the Mani. The events took such a turn that there was circumstantial evidence against Shri Krishna who happened to be at the Chambers of Satrajit’s daughter Satyabhama, devotee of Lord Krishna on the night prior to Satrajits losing the Mani. Shri Krishna was shocked at such allegations made by Satrajit and Shatadhanva ( Another Yadava) who had been promised by Satrajit the hand of his daughter Satyabhama.
Shri Krishna took upon himself to find out the jewel and redeem it to its rightful owner only to clear himself of the allegation. A search party was organised which came across the dead body of Prasain, a carcass of a lion and also the foot-prints of a bear blazing a new trail which, when followed, led the party to a cave. Shri Krishna went inside the cave telling the followers to wait at the cave entrance for seven days and if he did not return by then, to go back to Dwarka. Inside the cave Shri Krishna found the Syamantak Mani and also Jambuwanti, the daughter of the powerful bear king Jambuwant. There ensued a fight between Shri Krishna and Jambuwant lasting for twenty one days. The people at the entrance of the cave returned as per instruction after the seventh day. The duration of this fight gave Shatadhanva a real chance for villainy. He puts in an all over effort to win the hand of Satyabhama who would marry none but Shri Krishna. Jambuwant after losing the battle gave away his daughter in marriage and Syamantak Mani as dowry to Shri Krishna.
Coming to Dwarka, Shri Krishna returned the jewel to its rightful owner, Satrajit repented and made amends by giving away his daughter to Shri Krishna in marriage. Shatadhanva came to know of this alliance and made short work of his unsuspecting father Satrajit and decamped with the Mani. Shri Krishna brought justice to the evil doer and the villain Shatadhanva fell a victim to his famous Sudershana Chakra.
Lord Ganesh is undoubtedly the most popular deity in India. According to traditions, no religious or cultural programme will ever start without first offering prayer to Lord Ganesha. It is believed that Ganesh is “VIGHNA HARTA”, that is- One who will remove all obstacles.
Many films were produced on Ganesha Stories. There is plenty of literature in our old scriptures about Ganesha. His life is full of enchanting stories of his valour and wisdom, actually his birth itself is an interesting story. Ganesha is supposed to be the son of Shankar and Parvati,and the younger brother of Lord Subramanyam or Kumar Swami or Kartikeya. Ganesh is very popular among children and this was encashed by ingenious filmmakers by producing animation films like My friend Ganesha etc.
In Ganesh Puran,there are many stories which are connected with almost all other Gods. There is a story about how even Lord Shri Krishna suffered, because of a curse by Ganesha. A film on this story was made in 1950. It was Shree Ganesh Mahima,by Basant pictures. The director was the producer Homi Wadia and in this film Meena Kumari had acted opposite Mahipal. Although the title of the film was about Ganesha, most of the film centred around Lord Shri Krishna. Mahipal was never counted as an A category actor and so, leading actresses who started their careers with Mahipal in the lead were ashamed of revealing or accepting this fact.
For example, In all her interviews, Mala Sinha always quoted “Rangeen Raten”-56 with Shammi Kapoor as her first film in Bombay. She was ashamed of revealing that in the film Riyasat-55, her Hero was Mahipal. She always hid this fact. Similarly, A grade Heroine Meena Kumari also had done several Mythological and costume films before Baiju Bawra took her high up and above other Heroines. Films like Shri Ganesh Mahima-50, Laxmi Narayan-51, Hanuman Paataal vijay-51 and Alladin aur Jadui Chirag-52 had Mahipal as her Hero. In her later years, she always hid her earlier film Heroes.
Most mythological films were based on stories from Ramayana and Mahabharat. But many films were also using stories from various Puranas like Shiv Puran, Vishnu Puran etc. There was no dearth of such stories, what with 18 Puranas and 2 Epic books. Stories of Puranas etc have some hidden meanings, which one has to look for. Few years ago,in one of my posts, I explained how the Dashavatars of Lord Vishnu were actually the story of the evolution of Life on Earth. The first avatar of Matsya( the fish) explains us how life on earth began in water.The second avtar of Koorma (the Tortoise) told us the development of Amphibians who started living on land and water. So on and so forth.
In Treta Yuga, Shri Ram came and in Dwapar Yug, Shri Krishna was incarnated by Lord Vishnu. Shri Ram gave a lesson on how to be an ideal son, husband, friend and a King, but Krishna taught us how to be a street smart person and win over enemies skillfully. I feel in today’s times, Krishna is more relevant than Ram. Krishna also taught us how to be a happy person and enjoy everything.
Like religious stories , there is no shortage of Gods also, in our Religion. This is actually one of the plus points of Hinduism. Each community can and will have its own version of God. Many Gods, but basics are never compromised. Everyone knows there is only ONE GOD, having a different version to suit the worshipper. Examples are, Fishermen have God in the matters related to Sea and Tribals in forests worship Gods made of Wood. We all know that these are all symbols and God lives in our Hearts.
!950 was a year when the movies based on religion were showing an ascent in popularity. Films like Har Har Mahadev, which created several records, indicated decisively that that the next decade was a decade of religious films. Truly, from 1951 to 1960, a total of 124 Mythological and religious films were released. However, due to the popularity and convenience of television, these subjects were becoming popular on television in the form of serials. Thus slowly but surely the age of such films ended by the end of 1980.
Today’s film, made by Homi Wadia’s Basant pictures, was produced and directed by Homi Wadia himself. The cast consisted of Meena Kumari, Mahipal, S.N.Tripathi, Moolchand, Amarnath (Bharadwaj) and others. Music was by S.N.Tripathi. Songs were written by AnjumJaipuri and Ramesh Pandey.
Mahipal or Mahipal Singh or Mahipal Bhandari (24 November 1919 – 15 May 2005) was a film actor who worked in Hindi cinema mostly in stunt films like Parasmani, Zabak, Cobra Girl, Jantar Mantar, Arabian nights themed movies such as Alibaba, Aladdin And The Wonderful Lamp, Roop Lekha, Sunehari Nagin, and Hindu mythological movies like Sampoorna Ramayan, Ganesh Mahima, Veer Bhimsen, Jai Santoshi Maa. He is known for playing the iconic role of Lord Vishnu, and his two avatars, Lord Rama and Lord Krishna in lot of various puranic, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bhagavata Purana based movies, besides playing Tulsidas and Abhimanyu, and is also best known as the lead in V. Shantaram’s Navrang (1959), and the songs “Tu Chhupi Hai Kahan Me Tadapta Yahan” and “Aadha Hai Chandrama Raat Aadhi”. He acted in several well-known films of the 1950s and 1960s including V. Shantaram’s Navrang (1959) and Babubhai Mistry’s Parasmani (1963).
He was born on 24-11-1919 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where after his schooling, he graduated in literature from Jaswant Government College Jodhpur. Thereafter, he worked in the theatre before migrating to Mumbai in the early 1940s.
He made his film debut in the 1942 film Nazrana. However, the film didn’t work, thereafter he wrote lyrics for four films. He went on to work with directors such as Sohrab Modi and later with the Wadia Brothers, Homi Wadia and J. B. H. Wadia, however, it was his work with V. Shantaram that got him lasting acclaim. He worked in several mythological and historical films with actresses such as Nirupa Roy, Mala Sinha and even Meena Kumari.
He also did a series of fantasy films based on Arabian Nights, including Alibaba and 40 Thieves (1954), Jennie (1953) ,Aladdin Aur Jadui Chirag (1952) and Alibaba ka Beta (1955), which gave him popularity even in the Gulf countries. Later in his career, he switched to character roles, and appeared in films such as Jai Santoshi Maa (1975), a 1970s hit.
He wrote 13 songs in 4 films, namely Mali-44, Aap ki Sewa mein-47 (Lata Mangeshkar’s first playback song was written by Mahipal in this film), Mere Laal-48 and Adalat-48. Mahipal acted in 131 Hindi films. He had also worked in Marathi, Rajasthani and Assamese films. His first film was Nazrana-42 and the last film was Amar Jyoti-84….a career spanning 42 years. He worked with Shakila in 18 films, with Anita Guha in 11 films,With Shyama in 6 films, and in 4 films with Nirupa Roy. He worked with Meena Kumari in 4 films. He is the only actor in Mythological films who sang a song on screen in the role of Shri Ram, in the film Hanuman Pataal Vijay-1951.
He died in Mumbai of cardiac arrest, at the age of 86. He was survived by his wife Akkal Kunwar and daughters Sushila Jain and Nirmala Oswal. (Thanks to book Inhe na Bhulana by Harish Raghuwanshi ji, and my notes).
Here is today’s song, sung by Rafi, Geeta Dutt and chorus. Enjoy….
Audio
Video
Song-Kaanha murlee bajaayee (Shree Ganesh Mahima)(1950) Singers-Rafi, Geeta Dutt, Lyricist- Ramesh Chandra Pandey, MD- S N Tripathi
Both
Female Chorus
Male sargam bol
Female sargam bol
Lyrics
Kaanha aa aa aa aa
Kaanha aa
murlee bajaayee
kaanha murlee bajaayee
ho madhuban mein
Kaanha aa aa
byaakul jiya baawree ankhiyaan
bebas bhayee gujariya
jaise jahaan rahee ut dhaayeen, bhoolee sabhee dagariya
jaadoo sa chha gayee biraj mein
murli kee dhun pyaaree
chalee chhod kar sej piya kee
gopee ban matwaaree
kul kee reet bhool aayee
aise preet kya basaayee
ho madhuban mein
Kaanha aa aa
baithhee thhee singaar karan ko
koi gop kumaaree
man mohan kee murlee sun kar
khoi sudh budh saaree
haathon ka kangan paanwon mein
paayal haath mein daaree
ek aankh kaajar bin sohe
ek bhayee kajraaree
tan kee sudh bisraayee
kaise baawree banaayee
ho madhuban mein
Kaanha aa aa aa
koi daudee pati ke aage
rakh ke reeti thhaaree
aur kisee ne panghat per hee
bharee gagariya dhaaree
sakhiyaan laaj yoon ganwaayee
miljul raas yoon rachaayee
ho madhuban mein
Kaanha aa aa aa
chalee Radhika naagree
natnagar kee oar
bhayo raas aarambh tab
sakhiyaan bhayeen vibhor
manmohan ras rachaayo ree madhuban mein
manmohan ras rachaayo ree madhuban mein
sakhee roop manohar chhaayo ree nainan mein
sakhee roop manohar chhaayo ree nainan mein
manmohan raas rachaayo ree madhuban mein
manmohan raas rachayo ree madhuban mein
cham cham chamke mukut ki pyaaree
cham cham chamke mukut kee pyaaree
jhalmal kundal kee chhavi nyaaree
jhalmal kundal kee chhavi nyaaree
chham chham paayal baaj rahee kunjan mein
sakhee chham chham paayal baaj rahee kunjan mein
manmohan raas rachaayo ree madhuban mein
manmohan raas rachaayo ree madhuban mein
sabhee gopiyaan moh vash khadee taktakee baandh
vihase Natvar jaan kar
unke man kee saadh
jitnee raheen gopiya utnee prakate kunj bihaaree
ek ek gopee sang naache ek ek banwaaree
nain mein nain daal galbahiyaan
naachen de de taaree
sabhee samajhtee thheen apne ko
man mohan kee pyaaree
?? baajat mridang ??
dhumkit dhumkittakit takit
thhai ??
thirat chit ??
chapal ??
nadir dir nadir dir ??
trata thaih thai ??
thai tata thai ??
tata tata ??
mad chhalkat
naval nayan ?? barsat
mad gamani ??
balihaaree
balihaaree
le avtaar jagat ke swaami
braj mandal mein aaye
thhee unka hee ansh gopiyaan
jin ke naath kahaay
shyam roop mein pi ko paa kar
phir kho gayeen unheen mein
shyam roop mein pi ko paa kar
phir kho gayeen unheen mein
sab kuchh bhool prem ras pee kar
lay ho gayeen unheen mein
parbrahm parmatma
nij bhaktan ke kaaj
prem bhakti ka roop le
aaye yogee raaj
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Atul’s Song A Day- A choice collection of Hindi Film & Non-Film Songs 
January 14, 2026 at 10:48 pm
Good Evening,
Very beautiful song.
Old songs are a pleasant to listen always.
Thanks for sharing this jewel.
Blessings
Uma🙏
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