I’m a big fan of the new Battlestar: Galactica television show. It’s arguably among the edgiest and most brilliant things that’s ever been attempted in a mainstream TV show. It’s also unremittingly grim and depressing; fitting, I think, for a program whose premise is the genocide of the entire human race.
One of the things I particularly like about the show is the music in it. It’s unlike any science fiction program’s music I’ve ever heard before; stark, simple, and absolutely lovely. I’m especially fond of the opening title music, which I use as figmentj‘s ringtone on my phone:
What I didn’t know, though, is that the lyrics are in Sanskrit. Specifically, they are the Gayatri mantra (Sanskrit: गायत्री), an ancient Hindu hymn:
ॐ भूर्भुवः स्वः ।
तत् सवितुर्वरेण्यं ।
भर्गो देवस्य धीमहि ।
धियो यो नः प्रचोदयात् ॥
Transliterated, it reads:
oṃ bhūr bhuvaḥ svaḥ
tát savitúr váreniyaṃ
bhárgo devásya dhīmahi
dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
It’s a mantra that appears in the Ŗg Veda, and it’s the second most important mantra in Hindusim.
And I think that’s pretty cool.