Nightingale of the spirit: How Lata Mangeshkar immortalised the abhangs

New Delhi, Feb 6 Hundreds and thousands of film songs in more than a dozen languages, ghazals, patriotic songs and also 'bhav geet', the quintessential semi-classical, non-filmi songs in Marathi, Lata Mangeshkar sang them all but it was singing 'abhangs' that was closest to her heart.

Revered by the Maharashtrian populace the world over, but unknown to others, even to those who know her bhajans, 'abhang' a-bhang, or 'that which cannot be broken even by time' were a genre that allowed for the expression of her spiritual strength.

Abhangs are the traditional poems praising Maharashtra's popular deity Vitthal by Sant Jnaneshwar, Tukaram, Namdev and Eknath, to name a few from Maharashtra's robust bhakti tradition. These have survived for centuries as they have percolated into just about every socio-economic milieu.

What could have been restricted to those who love 'sant sahitya'

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