Meenal Nigam: I am glad to release my Ram bhajan around Ayodhya Ram Mandir’s first anniversary; worked on it for 8 years

As the nation continues to celebrate the first anniversary of the consecration of the Shri Ram Temple in Ayodhya, several musicians, including Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan, Hariharan, Anuradha Paudwal and Malini Awasthi, among others, are paying homage by releasing Ram bhajans. The latest to join the bandwagon is singer Meenal Nigam, who has come up with her spiritual rendition of Naam Ramayana. The independent devotional single captures the essence of Shri Ram’s life and virtues, presenting them in a lyrical and melodic format. Composed and performed by Meenal, the bhajan has been arranged by Durgesh Rajbhat.

“Naam Ramayana has always been a divine expression of devotion. Through my rendition, I wanted to bring its timeless wisdom and grace closer to people, offering them a chance to connect with Shri Ram’s virtues in a soulful and melodic way. It’s my humble offering during a historic moment for our nation’s faith. I have been working on the song for almost eight years and I am so happy that it finally got to see the light of the day on such an auspicious occasion (the first anniversary of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya).” Naam Ramayana is a poetic summary of Valmiki’s epic, capturing the life, virtues and teachings of Shri Ram in a concise format.

The inspiration for the song came from her visit to the Bihar School of Yoga in Munger (Bihar) in 2016, says Meenal. She was “deeply moved by the melodious version of Naam Ramayana chanted by the yogis and yoginis of the ashram”. The singer, who is the younger sister of Sonu Nigam, adds, “Those chants lingered in my mind for years and that’s how I got inspired to compose and bring my own interpretation of Naam Ramayana to life.”

Meenal, who has been releasing devotional songs on regular intervals and calls the genre her “natural calling”, recently released another bhajan, Maate Lakshmi Maate, which is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi. It marked her collaboration with lyricist Lalita Goenka and composer Sanjeev Kohli.