Sindhu Bhairavi: Connecting India

It seems Sindhu Bhairavi is in the soul of India. Indian classical music would be incomplete without this absorbing Raga which has the ability to take you to the innermost tranquility. With the name Bhairavi in Hindustani classical music and Sindhu Bhairavi as its Carnatic counterpart, there seems to be absolutely no language barrier, with all of the Indian languages having embraced the raga as their own. Some of the most devotional compositions in each of the Indian languages have been set to this Raga, and one can never get tired of listening to its soothing and soulful renditions for hours together. Here is an attempt to bring together some of the most well known renditions of the Raga, from across multiple languages (one per language for the time being):

1. The most famous composition ever in the Raga has to be the Sanskrit composition "Venkatachala Nilayam" by Saint Purandara Dasa, known as the Pitamaha of Carnatic Music, sung here by the legendary Smt. M. L. Vasantha Kumari:



2. Saint Purandara Dasa must have been a great patron of Raga Sindhu Bhairavi, as he has set many of his compositions in this raga. Probably even the second most famous rendition in this Raga would have to be his  composition, the Kannada song "Tamburi Meetidava", rendered here by Smt. Sudha Raghunathan:



3. Up next in my list is the Tamil composition by Anai Vaidyanatha Iyer, "Chandrashekhara Eesha", sung by Nityashree Mahadevan here:



4. Maharastra has had its own set of great saints and one of the most well known ones among them was Samartha Ramadas. Here is his Marathi composition "Kalyan Kari Ramaraya":



5. When you move onto Hindi, Surdas Bhajans, Bharat Ratna M. S. Subbulakshmi and Sindhu Bhairavi become inseparable:



6. And here is a powerful Bengali Durga Stuti sung by Aruna Sairam, "Jago Tumi Jago":



7. And the well known Punjabi anga "Bhavani Dayani" sung by Parvin Sultana:




8. So, it is no surprise that the iconic video of national unity created by Doordarshan years ago, "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara", was mostly tuned to Bhairavi and Sindhu Bharavi:




Well, that is it for now, and I hope to come back and share more renditions of this raga, including my personal favorite, "Govinda Gopala Gopika Vallabha"...

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