The great festival of Navratri reminds us to pray the Goddess whom we fondly call as mother. You pray to the Goddess, your own mother and to the motherland, the great place which made you and has been taking care of you. What else can be a fitting “prayer” to the motherland as one penned by the great lyricist/composer/film-maker Dina Naath Madhok sahab? It came over 65 years ago and still will make you feel proud to be Hindustani.
Listen to this wonderful marching song “Watan ki maati haath mein lekar maathe tilak lagaa lo” from the film Gaaon (1947). Composed by the veteran composer Khemchand Prakash ji and sung by Mukesh ji and Geeta ji (happens to be their first duet together).
Song: Watan ki maati haath mein lekar
Singers: Geeta Dutt and Mukesh
Film: Gaon (1947)
MD: Khemchand Prakash
Lyrics: Dina Nath Madhok
Song lyrics:
vatan ki maati haath mein lekar maathe tilak laga lo
vatan ki maati haath mein lekar maathe tilak laga lo
jis maati ne janam diya us maati ke gun ga lo
jis maati ne janam diya us maati ke gun ga lo
vatan ki maati haath
maati ho ke sona ugale
maati ho ke sona ugale ye sona vo sona hai
ye sona vo sona hai
chor churaaye daaku luute khatam kabhi nahin hona hai
aisi pyaari daulat ko
aisi pyaari daulat ko
tan-man se apana lo
jis maati ne janam
gairon ne baahar se aa ke
gairon ne baahar se aa ke
pet bhare yahaan apane
pet bhare yahaan apane
sukh ki nind sada vo soye dekhe sukh ke sapane
sukh ki nind sada vo soye dekhe sukh ke sapane
band karo ab ghar ke dvaare
band karo ab ghar ke dvaare
jis maati ne janam diya us maati ke gun ga lo
jis maati ne janam diya us maati ke gun ga lo
vatan ki maati haath
Note:
On our parent website HamaraForums, we were searching for this song for quite some time as it had that “special” thing being the first duet of two great singers. We read the lyrics of the song somewhere on the net and then loved them a lot. The curiosity increased further. Finally sometime last year (I think around Geeta ji’s death anniversary – 20th July) it was shared with us by our dear friend Shri Girdharilal Vishwakarma ji. The joy of listening to it was indeed great.
It is a perfect song in all of the aspects: great inspiring lyrics (so true even today), wonderful tune, great rhythm, clever use of the chorus singers and of course soulful singing by Mukesh ji and Geeta ji.
Tags: Gaaon, Khemchand, Madhok, Motherland, Mukesh, Prayer, Watan