In a celebration of Sanskrit and its shlokas, a few musicians got together to rejig Eric Clapton’s acoustic version of Layla – calling it लीले (Leele).

Layla features high in rock music’s hall of fame. The song is said to be inspired by The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which was gifted to Clapton. Its story of unrequited love – of a man who goes crazy because he cannot marry the woman he loves, moved Clapton, according to his autobiography. The song is also inspired by Clapton’s own obsession with Pattie Boyd, wife of close friend George Harrison.

Enjoy the lyrics for now, as mentioned in the song’s https://soundcloud.com/krishashok/leela Soundcloud link:

त्वयि एकाकिन्यां किं करिष्यसि (What will you do for your loneliness)
यदा सहचरः कोऽपि नास्ति (When for companionship there is no one)
चिरम् धावन्ती गुप्ता असि त्वम् (Time has past, you have been hiding)
जानास्येव तत् गर्व इति (You must know that it is your pride)

लीले, साष्टाङ्गं प्रणमामि (Leele, I fall at your feet)
लीले, प्रिये, त्वम् याचेऽहम् (Leele, my love, I implore thee)
लीले, चित्तव्याकुलम् शमय (Leele, pacify my troubled mind)

तव शोकम् अपहर्तुम् अयते
त्वत्पिता यदा निराशाम् (अजनयत्)
मूढोऽहम्! त्वयि अनुरागो जातः!
लोक एव अधोमुखीकृतः!

उन्मादात् प्राक् मम
मां पुनरुद्धर
गतिर्नास्तीति मा वद
व्यर्थमिदम् प्रेम मा ब्रूहि

Lyrics to this song are by SP Suresh & Vaishnavi Sundararajan, while the mixing & mastering by Krish Ashok.