Famous singer from Muslim majority Indonesia sings song with line of Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram at banquet hosted by Indonesian President Jokowi for PM Modi
At the outset I would like to say that I know very little of Indonesia. I recall reading school history book(s) on President Sukarno of Indonesia and Prime Minister Nehru of India being founder leaders of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM). And during my youth and most of my software industry days, it was Suharto who was President of Indonesia. Bali and Jakarta are famous places of Indonesia (and Aceh due to the tragic 2004 tsunami). I also knew of some historical influence of Hinduism on Indonesia that can be seen even today even though Indonesia now is a Muslim majority country (87.2 % Muslim and max. number of Muslims in any country - 227 million, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_by_country).
Current President of Indonesia is Joko Widodo. I have read some articles referring to him. President Widodo also had come to India as one of the chief guests (from ASEAN) for this year's Republic Day function in India, if I recall correctly.
As I have been reading up on religion worldwide over the past few years, I had noted that Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims in any country in the world! And that it has a very high percentage of Muslims (high 80s). The percentage of Hindus in Indonesia is very small - 1.7%, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia.
So I was really, really surprised to see this twitter video having a famous Indonesian singer, Fryda Lucyana, singing an old Hindi song, 'Sabarmati ke sant tu ne kar diya kamaal', which extols Mahatma Gandhi, and which has the line 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram', a famous phrase extolling Lord Ram of Hindu scripture, Ramayana. Here's the tweet with the video: https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/1001830523604357120, 30th May 2018 by PMO India, with the text, "A wonderful rendition of 'Sabarmati Ke Sant Tune Kar Diya Kamal' sung by Fryda Lucyana at the banquet hosted by President @jokowi for PM @narendramodi."
Here's the original (longer version) song from the Hindi 1954 movie Jagriti, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIKLTEtntI8, 4 min. 47 secs.
This Times of India article: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/my-grandson-is-also-named-srinarendra-indonesian-president-widodo-to-pm-modi/articleshow/64388135.cms, reports that President Joko Widodo told Narendra Modi that his grandson is named Srinarendra!
Very interesting! Actually I do recall that Ramayana continued to play a role in Indonesian culture. But somehow I never thought that a Muslim majority country with a Muslim president (Jokowi is a Muslim) would have a singer sing a song with the line 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' to PM Modi during a banquet hosted for PM Modi by him (Indonesian president). This has really won my heart. I admire the openness of the Indonesian president in appreciating Hindu culture and religion in this wonderful way.
And I am still so surprised to know that his grandson is named Srinarendra as I am quite sure his son's family would be Muslim. A person named Srinarendra who is a Muslim is a new thing to me! I know of Buddhist and Jain names having some commonality with Hindu names. But Muslim names in India at least, as far as I know, are pretty distinct from Hindu names. Here's an article about Jokowi's grandson name: Jokowi meets first grandchild, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/03/11/jokowi-meets-first-grandchild.html, 21st March 2016. The child is named Jan Ethes Srinarendra with the father explaining that Jan meant “most”, Ethes “dexterous” and Srinarendra “intelligent leader”.
Fascinating to see such a blend of Hindu historical background and Islamic faith in Indonesia.
Current President of Indonesia is Joko Widodo. I have read some articles referring to him. President Widodo also had come to India as one of the chief guests (from ASEAN) for this year's Republic Day function in India, if I recall correctly.
As I have been reading up on religion worldwide over the past few years, I had noted that Indonesia has the largest number of Muslims in any country in the world! And that it has a very high percentage of Muslims (high 80s). The percentage of Hindus in Indonesia is very small - 1.7%, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia.
So I was really, really surprised to see this twitter video having a famous Indonesian singer, Fryda Lucyana, singing an old Hindi song, 'Sabarmati ke sant tu ne kar diya kamaal', which extols Mahatma Gandhi, and which has the line 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram', a famous phrase extolling Lord Ram of Hindu scripture, Ramayana. Here's the tweet with the video: https://twitter.com/PMOIndia/status/1001830523604357120, 30th May 2018 by PMO India, with the text, "A wonderful rendition of 'Sabarmati Ke Sant Tune Kar Diya Kamal' sung by Fryda Lucyana at the banquet hosted by President @jokowi for PM @narendramodi."
Here's the original (longer version) song from the Hindi 1954 movie Jagriti, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIKLTEtntI8, 4 min. 47 secs.
This Times of India article: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/my-grandson-is-also-named-srinarendra-indonesian-president-widodo-to-pm-modi/articleshow/64388135.cms, reports that President Joko Widodo told Narendra Modi that his grandson is named Srinarendra!
Very interesting! Actually I do recall that Ramayana continued to play a role in Indonesian culture. But somehow I never thought that a Muslim majority country with a Muslim president (Jokowi is a Muslim) would have a singer sing a song with the line 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' to PM Modi during a banquet hosted for PM Modi by him (Indonesian president). This has really won my heart. I admire the openness of the Indonesian president in appreciating Hindu culture and religion in this wonderful way.
And I am still so surprised to know that his grandson is named Srinarendra as I am quite sure his son's family would be Muslim. A person named Srinarendra who is a Muslim is a new thing to me! I know of Buddhist and Jain names having some commonality with Hindu names. But Muslim names in India at least, as far as I know, are pretty distinct from Hindu names. Here's an article about Jokowi's grandson name: Jokowi meets first grandchild, http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/03/11/jokowi-meets-first-grandchild.html, 21st March 2016. The child is named Jan Ethes Srinarendra with the father explaining that Jan meant “most”, Ethes “dexterous” and Srinarendra “intelligent leader”.
Fascinating to see such a blend of Hindu historical background and Islamic faith in Indonesia.
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