"Govinda Jaya Jaya" is an Indian devotional chant or song. It is often sung in the

Krishna Consciousness The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...

movement founded by

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami (; 1 September 1896 – 14 November 1977) was an Indian Gaudiya Vaishnava guru who founded ISKCON, commonly known as the "Hare Krishna movement". Members of ISKCON view Bhaktivedanta Swami as a repr ...

, and by various other schools of yoga, and by Hindus in general. Prabhupada's devotees

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recorded the chant as "Govinda Jai Jai" for their eponymous album, produced by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

and released on

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record label in 1971. The recording was first issued as the B-side of the devotees' 1970 single "

Govinda Govinda (), also rendered Govind and Gobind, is an epithet of Vishnu which is also used for his avatars such as Krishna. The name appears as the 187th and the 539th name of Vishnu in '' Vishnu Sahasranama''. The name is also popularly addresse ...

". In 1996, the English rock band

Kula Shaker Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a num ...

adapted "Govinda Jaya Jaya" into their hit song "

". Their song remains the only British top-ten hit sung entirely in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. Speaking in 2016,

Alonza Bevan Alonza George Bevan (born 24 October 1970) is an English musician who is the bassist for the English rock band Kula Shaker. In between Kula Shaker splitting in 1999 and reforming in 2004, Bevan played in a number of groups including Johnny Marr' ...

, the bass player of Kula Shaker, said that it was "nice to get an ancient Indian hymn layedon

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

in the UK".

Composition

The song's lyrics run: Literal meaning: Recordings of the song have also been made by Prabhupada himself, and by Vishnujana Swami,

Jai Uttal Jai Uttal (born June 12, 1951) is an American musician. He is a Grammy-nominated singer and “a pioneer in the world music community with his eclectic East-meets-West sound.” Biography Uttal grew up in New York City and lived in a home filled ...

Maki Asakawa was a Japanese jazz and blues singer, lyricist and composer. She was an important voice of the Japanese urban counterculture. It is written in ''The Japan Times'' that she "made her name in 1970" with ''The World of Maki Asakawa'' and is known ...

Alice Coltrane Alice Coltrane (' McLeod; August 27, 1937January 12, 2007), also known by her adopted Sanskrit name Turiyasangitananda, was an American jazz musician and composer, and in her later years a swamini. An accomplished pianist and one of the few har ...

, and

Donna De Lory Donna De Lory is an American singer, dancer and songwriter. Part of a musical family, De Lory has been performing since a young age. Her voice can be heard on albums by Carly Simon, Ray Parker Jr., Kim Carnes, Santana, Martika, Laura Branigan, Be ...

References

Year of song unknown Donna De Lory songs Hindu music Song recordings produced by George Harrison Songwriter unknown Hindu devotional songs {{India-music-stub