HNLU Raipur may soon adopt a school-song, if its executive council approves of a version submitted for its consideration by the vice chancellor, who paid a professional studio to record it being sung by celebrity professional singers Shaan and Saadhna Sharma.

HNLU VC Prof Sukh Pal Singh told us that the song was being considered by the EC for the past one-and-a-half years, after the body rejected the original version of the song for being too long at five minutes and two seconds.

However, the EC had allowed a shorter version of about three minutes to be submitted again for deliberation. He said that the EC met once in every six months.

Singh, who is a former Benares Hindu University (BHU) professor said that the “school-geet” (geet, is Hindi for song) at BHU was the inspiration behind his move to work on a song for HNLU as well. The 2-minute long BHU anthem had been composed by BHU prof SP Singh, he told us.

For HNLU, the song was composed first by an agricultural science professor the VC was acquainted with, and then the VC and that professor modified the lyrics “in accordance with the objectives of HNLU”, he said. They asked Shaan and Sharma to record the song in a professional studio in Mumbai and the singers did not demand a fee for their services, Singh said.

HNLU rented the professional studio for the recording for around Rs 2 lakh, he said.

We have received the original 5:18m version of the song which runs into three stanzas of lyrics broken by five choruses.

Click the ‘play’ button below to listen:

The chorus:

Hidayatullah rashtra vidhi vishwavidyalaya

Dharma sansthapna dhyaya pratibadhh sheesh naam hai [X2]

The first stanza which mentions that the law school teaches civil, economic and constitutional legal principles:

Samaajik, aarthik, rajnaitik nyaya, abhivyakti ki swatantrata

Praapt karaana har naagrik ko avsar aur pratishtha ki samta

Raashtra ki ekta kaayam rakhte ye lakshay vidhi ke tamaam hai

The second stanza glorifying Raipur and Chhatisgarh, followed by three more stanzas, is as follows:

Raipur Nagri hi Raajvanshon ki thi raj thali thi

Chhattisgarh tha dakshin koshan yahi sanskaardhaani thi

Bachpan ke sakshi ko Hidayatullah ki rajposhiyon par maan hai

GNLU Gandhinagar also has a school song which, sources told us, was composed by its alumni.

Photo by BhodiDG1983