Lata Mangeshkar chants bhajans for Jain community, records album

Mumbai: Lata Mangeshkar has recorded an album of bhajans and chants for the Jain community and she got herself a linguistic teacher to guide her through all the traditional devotional chants.

Lata Mangeshkar says doing album was a special challenge. “Somewhere they felt that their religious teachings and mantras have so far not been properly articulated. I am happy and relieved that they think my rendition does justice to their sacred teachings,” she said.

The process was time-taking but for the 84-year-old it is never too late to learn. “It wasn’t easy, I can tell you that. But getting the pronunciation and diction absolutely right has always been important for me. Early in my career, I had got myself Sanskrit and Urdu teachers who would come to my recordings at studios to sit and teach me the languages during the breaks,” Lata Mangeshkar said.

“Years later when I recorded the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ for my brother Hridaynath Mangeshkar, I hired another Sanskrit teacher to make sure that I got the nuances correct,” she added.

Lata Mangeshkar feels it’s very important to be 100 per cent correct in articulating religious and spiritual thoughts.

“Centuries of thoughts go into these teachings. One can’t be careless with religious sentiments. I am happy to learn languages through my singing and to polish up my diction. Every artiste remains a student all her life. I am no exception,” she said.