O Lord of the hosts!
His eyes shine in radiance
in whose heart is your name
whence the origin and where the end
the earth, sky and stars
pay homage to him
and fear fears him
whom your shadow protects
O Lord of the hosts!
He who earns the blessing of your love
wealth finds him in whatever he does
and a shoreless boat is he who
has not found you whose
benevolent eyes keep watch over all
shattering the storms of sins,
whose glory never ebbs,
he becomes a master of his own destiny
even forgetting the world, who has
found your grace, come riding the mouse,
O Lord of the hosts!
Anointed of the dust of your foot
on his forehead, who lives mortal here,
the immortal nectars cannot tempt him
he can drink venom smiling
just by the shadow of your grace
the wheel of the chariot of time moves
and by a spark of your ire
abodes of demons burn
the minions of enemies stand defeated,
a particle is a mountain,
boon become into this world, comes your name,
O Lord of the hosts!
Glory, glory to the dear one adorned of peacocks!
This is the first in my forthcoming series of translations of lyrics from Indian Film Music. As is traditional, I've started with a song dedicated to Ganesha, the Lord of the Hosts and remover of obstacles in all Indian religious and spiritual traditions.
This scintillating song with an unbelievable rhythm, titled 'Shree Ganesha Deva' is from the 2012 Hindi language film 'Agneepath'. It's a fantastic song that captures so much of the devotional spirit that guides millions of ordinary Indians, has lyrics by Amitabh Bhattacharya, sung by Ajay Gogavale and set to music by Ajay-Atul. This particular song is also shot beautifully and captures the carnival spirit of the Ganesha festival in the city of Mumbai.
Enjoy watching it at: youtube.com/watch?v=vnDbGgzs_To
Original Hindi language song lyrics were taken from lyricsmint.com/2011/12/deva-shree-ganesha-lyrics-agneepath.html#ixzz3fb6dyLkk
In this series, my translations will not be literal, but rather seek to catch the essence of the songs, with an eye to English language poetry. The songs will be selected in no particular order, but will seek to convey the beauty, depth and breadth of Indian film music lyrics, and capturing the amazing diversity of everyday Indian culture. Initially, I will select songs from films in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu languages - where films and songs are known well to me.