How, why and who made ‘Raghupati-Raghav Raja Ram’ the name of God and Allah, know the whole story

Mahatma Gandhi made changes in the hymn ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’

The question is why is there so much controversy over this bhajan of Mahatma Gandhi? Actually, the controversy over this bhajan is about its originality. It has been going viral on various social media platforms that ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram…’ was definitely Gandhiji’s favorite bhajan, but he adopted and sang it by changing the verses of the original bhajan.

The year was 1930, the date was 12th March… A lean and thin old man, half draped in a dhoti and half wrapped in a cloth, set out with a stick in his hand. This stick was of non-violence and this was a journey of protest. Gandhi, who was considered a Mahatma among the British and the Indian masses, had decided that the people of India would make salt themselves and break the salt law of the British government. After this bold decision of Gandhi, the whole country followed him.

This journey from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi was a journey of 327 kms, which came to be known as Dandi March. Although Mahatma Gandhi started this march alone, but gradually a big caravan started joining it. What played a big role in uniting this crowd was an ancient bhajan, the most favourite bhajan of the Mahatma… ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sita Ram’, ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan’

Today Dandi March has become history. The country is free. Not just salt, we have a name in big industries. Gandhi is immortal by being a Mahatma. Sometimes acceptable, sometimes not, but he is an important part of Indian politics. So important that every politician has to bow before this old man before turning towards the Parliament.

Today the controversy is not about Gandhi, but about his Ramdhun bhajan, which emerged as the group song and victory song of a big crowd during the Dandi march. Today we will talk about this bhajan, whose lyrics we know. ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram, Patit Pavan Sita Ram, Ishwar Allah Tero Naam, Sabko Sanmati De Bhagwan’

Controversy over Ramdhun Bhajan in Patna

It is reported that Atal Jayanti celebrations were organized in Bapu Auditorium, Patna. During this, a controversy has arisen over Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite bhajan. As soon as the Bhojpuri singer sang the line ‘Ishwar Allah Tero Naam’ in the event, the people present in the program created a ruckus. The singer was opposed so much in the program over the name ‘Ishwar Allah’ that she had to apologize from the stage, then after a while BJP leader Ashwani Choubey took over the stage and he started raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ from the mic.

The question is why is there so much controversy over this bhajan of Mahatma Gandhi? Actually, the controversy over this bhajan is about its originality. It has been said on various social media platforms that ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram…’ was Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, but he adopted and sang it by changing the verses of the original bhajan. Although there is no authenticity about who actually wrote this bhajan, there are different claims.

First claim – Saint Tulsidas composed this bhajan in Dakor

The most important claim is related to a legend associated with Saint Tulsidas in the 15th-16th century. It is said that once Saint Tulsi was on a pilgrimage to search for his Ram. In this connection, he reached Gujarat. At that time, there was a famous Vishnu temple in Dakor, Gujarat. This temple was dedicated to Ranchhod Rai, another name of Lord Krishna, the eighth incarnation of Vishnu. Tulsi reached in front of the Shaligram idol installed here and started pleading with him to give him darshan in the form of Shri Ram.

Tulsi made this request his insistence and started singing Ramdhun. He composed this bhajan in this Ramdhun, in which he says ‘Beautiful idol of Shaligram, on which Tulsi leaves are adorned and which is purified with Ganga water. Whose color is like the dark color of clouds. O! Sita’s Ram, who purifies the fallen, Raghukul Shiromani Swami Raja Ram, give me darshan.

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,

Patit pavan Sita Ram,

Sundar Vigrah Meghshyam

Ganga Tulsi Shaligram

However, this claim cannot be confirmed due to lack of co-ordination between this legend and Tulsi’s works. The second reason is that apart from Shri Ram Charit Manas, Saint Tulsidas has written Vinay Patrika, Ramlallanhachu, Vairagyasandipani, Ramagyaprashna, Janaki-Mangal, Parvati-Mangal, Geetawali, Krishna-Geetavali, Barvai Ramayan, Dohavali and Kavitavali (including Bahuk), but there is no mention of this bhajan. Secondly, the language of Tulsi Das’ writing was either Awadhi or Sanskrit vocabulary, apart from this, influenced by the devotee poet Surdas, he has written limited compositions in Braj language. In such a situation, even linguistically, this bhajan does not stand anywhere near the compositions of Tulsi Das.

Second claim: Bhajan composed by Saint Pravara Sri Lakshmanacharya

Raghupati Raghav… The second and most popular claim about the bhajan is about Saint Pravara Sri Lakshmanacharya. However, according to the viral claim on the internet, there is no clear information about him as to which era he belonged to and when he composed this bhajan. It is definitely known that this bhajan is a part of his work Sri Naam Ramayan, which he wrote inspired by Sri Naam Ramayanam written in Sanskrit by Maharishi Valmiki.

There are 24000 verses in this work. Saint Shri Lakshmanacharya has compiled them in the form of devotional verses in easy language. In this compilation too, the verses have been composed according to the chapters of Ramayana. The ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’ hymn has details of the Uttara Kand, when Shri Ram, who returned to Ayodhya after completing his exile, is crowned and he wears the crown as the king of the people. The poet has promoted the theory of incarnation by describing his form, where his image has been described as similar to Shaligram, similar to Vishnu’s blue-meghashyam colour and similar to Jagdishwar who holds Ganga water-Tulsi leaves.

Its actual lyrics are told as follows.

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram. Patit pavan Sita Ram.

Sundar vigraha Meghashyam. Ganga Tulsi Shaligram.

Bhadragirishwar Sitaram. Bhagat-Janpriya Sitaram.
Janakiramana Sitaram. Jai Jai Raghav Sitaram

Reason for controversy

When Mahatma Gandhi made this bhajan the chorus song of Dandi March, it is said that he changed its words and tried to make it the voice of the people with secularism. From here, he added the word ‘Allah’ along with Ishwar in the original bhajan and then this bhajan became the song of the masses. This bhajan started being sung from Sabarmati Ashram to Mahatma Gandhi’s prayer meetings in Delhi and it got global recognition.

There are many versions of Ramdhun, and the version used by Mahatma Gandhi had “universality”. The intention behind Mahatma Gandhi modifying the original bhajan was that, the God of Hindus and the Allah of Muslims are the same. In this way, it was his attempt to unite against the British rule.

Who weaved the Ram bhajan into a tune

Acharya Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar has been a pioneer of North Indian classical music. Paluskar had composed this bhajan in Raga Mishra and he used to sing it daily in his prayers. At a time when Indian classical music was losing its sheen, Pandit ji revived it and the best platform for it was found in the freedom movements, where he used to give musical performances before the start of meetings and speeches. During this time, he also sang Ramdhun on many occasions, which Mahatma Gandhi liked very much and he used to listen to it again and again.