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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

You too Raja Sir!

I was listening to the "paatu solli" song from movie azhaghi. It starts with "sarva mangala" shloka. I was very annoyed when they said "sive" instead of "Shive". First of all I feel it is a blasphemy to use sacred shlokas in movies where only love (between man - woman) and lust form the central theme. Even when they do, I would expect them to give shlokas their due respect. (Shive means wife of lord shiva, I dont know what sive means, and it is a sacred name told in lalitha saharanamam).
Deva is culprit of throwing such filth on our religious beliefs by using tunes of famous devotional songs for his filthy numbers. Example, 18 vayadhu song from the movie “sooryan”. By the way I do not consider him as music director as he simply replays famous tunes like my friend dinesh and his team does.
At least in one song, I have listened ARR doing this sacrilege. In the movie “alaipayudhe, song "endrum endrum punnagai", the shloka "Maangalyam thandhunane" was shown scant respect. Somebody shouts "maangalam maangalam" from "adi vayiru". But I can forgive ARR for that as he is a Muslim, I don’t expect him to show any sensitivity towards Hindu faith. But I can never forgive Mani for this act. However, I wonder how our Brahmins, who are supposed to safeguarding the originality of traditional texts, blissfully enjoy such mean violence on our Vedic fabric.
Even though, as I said before, this practice of misusing our religion in movie is quite common and unopposed, I cannot accept such low quality work from Raja. He is a very devotional and religious. He has always handled shlokas in his songs with due care. So Ilayaraja Sir! Please make sure that your singers pronounce them right.

4 Comments:

  • As I've always been saying Hindus and Brahmins in particular have always been
    forgiving and tolerant.

    What people are doing is mostly out of ignorance and lack of respect to our religion...

    These things are bound to happen in
    Kaliyuga.....

    -KP.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:17 PM  

  • Gautama Dharma Sutra, Chapter 12

    Please pay particular attention to 4. 5. and 6.

    Please read all of my comment before drawing conclusions. This comment was not made in prejudice. This is just an attempt at a logical explanation to the state of affairs.

    Here is my humble submission:
    a) First, if you can forgive a muslim just because he "doesn't know better", I say the same argument applies to anyone who doesn't know better.
    b) The flaw is not in the people, but in the religion itself. If religion dictates that a whole class of people be denied access to a large body of knowledge, then ignorance is what WILL result.
    c) No man can respect what he doesn't understand. And he cannot understand what he does not know.
    d) Things are changing. I'm not of Brahmin birth, but I have access (thanks to the Internet) to more Hindu knowledge than my father did. So, in time, more people will know more, and, hopefully, apply that knowledge in a better manner.
    e) Meanwhile, I think those of us that DO know a litte more, should be spending our time in communion with God, than be bothered with what's nothing more than a result of the evolution of Hinduism. What IS a syllable in the big scheme of things? Like it is said in the Gita, do your bit, and leave the rest to God. (My apologies if I sound pompous. It was not my intention to sound so.)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:46 PM  

  • @anonymous
    I accept with most of what you said. It was written in a spur of moment when I saw ilayaraja being careless. In th hindsight I aplogies for what I wrote.

    By Blogger P B, at 10:16 PM  

  • i thought the singer said "shive" in that song, but i am not sure. sometimes later let me find it out. for now i will give you the benefit of doubt :)

    but i dont see any wrong thing in tuning "maangalyam thandhu nan enaa". just because it is in sanskrit, i think we misunderstood it to be a shloka in the praise of God. But the actual sloka is:
    maangalyam thandhu naa Enaa
    mama jeevana hethunaa
    khande badhnaami shubhakE
    sanjeeva sharadha shatham.

    while tying the holy mangala sutra the groom says (rather, suppose to say):
    [hey! girl] i am tying this holy thread called mangalyam [around your neck]. [so]whatever incidents happens[hethuna] in my life [mama jeevana] - be it good or bad we will live together [san-jeeva] 100 autumns [sharadha shatham].

    it is kind of a promise made by the groom to the bride infront of agni, all other devatha's that were invoked in invisible form in that kalyaana mandapam (aavaahitha devatha), elders, friends, family, and others, that I promise you that i will live with you come what may happen in my life.

    That is why people say that vivaham in hindu tradition is not just an agreement but a promise, a holy promise -- holy because of all Gods and elders are involved.

    coming back to the usage of this shloka in film, i guess this particular shloka has been used in various form -- hillarious to sad to sinful to marriage, all occasions by Raaja himself.

    hillarious (movie siva; song ada maapiLa).

    sad (i dont remember it right now)

    sin (rajini, ambika, radha movie; ambika, wife of rajini chooses to leave her husband and her child for a better life at city, when she steps out the house to run away raja has used the same maangalyam shloka with eerie touch)

    marriage (every other movie that has marriage scene, even this movie scene is more about conversion of childhood friendship into marriage than being a lust driven one).

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 9:18 AM  

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