 Tyagaraja, known for his extensive contributions toCarnatic music | ||||||
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Bhajan is an Indian term for any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically amongDharmic religions, in any language.[1] The termbhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) meansreverence and originates from the root wordbhaj (Sanskrit: भज्), which meansto revere, as in 'Bhaja Govindam' (Revere Govinda).The termbhajana also meanssharing.
The term bhajan is also commonly used to refer to a group event, with one or more lead singers, accompanied with music, and sometimes dancing.[2] Normally, bhajans are accompanied by percussion instruments such astabla,dholak or atambourine. Handheld smallcymbals (kartals) are also commonly used to maintain the beat. A bhajan may be sung in atemple, in a home, under a tree in the open, near a river bank or a place of historic significance.[3] A group of bhajan performers may be known as amaṇḍalī.[4]
Having no prescribed form, or set rules, bhajans are normally lyrical and based on melodicragas.[5] It belongs to a genre of music and arts that developed during theBhakti movement.[1] It is found in the various traditions ofHinduism as well asJainism. Within Hinduism, bhajans are particularly prevalent inVaishnavism.[1]
Ideas from scriptures, legendary epics, the teachings of saints and loving devotion to adeity are typical subjects in bhajans.[5]
Bhajans have been widely composed anonymously and shared as a musical and arts tradition. Genres such as Nirguni, Gorakhanathi, Vallabhapanthi, Ashtachhap, Madhura-bhakti and the traditional South Indian form Sampradya Bhajan each have their own repertoire and methods of singing.[6]
The Sanskrit wordbhajan orbhajana is derived from the rootbhaj, which means "divide, share, partake, participate, to belong to".[7][8][9] The word also connotes "attachment, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to something as a spiritual, religious principle or means of salvation".[10]
In Hinduism,Bhajan and its Bhakti term,Kirtan, have roots in the ancient metrical and musical traditions of the Vedic era, particularly theSamaveda. The SamavedaSamhita is not meant to beread as a text, but sung as it is like a musical score sheet that must beheard.[11]
Other late Vedic texts mention the two scholarsShilalin (IAST: Śilālin) andKrishashva (IAST: Kṛśaśva), credited to be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing and dance.[12][13] The art schools of Shilalin and Krishashva may have been associated with the performance of Vedic rituals, which involved storytelling with embedded ethical values.[12] The Vedic traditions integrated rituals with performance arts, such as a dramatic play, where not only praises to gods were recited or sung, but the dialogues were part of a dramatic representation and discussion of spiritual themes.[14][15]
A lyric from a Hindu Bhajan
This body is but a guest of four days,
a house made of dirt.
On this earth your mark is made,
a symbol of your good work.
The Vedas and Upanishads celebrateNada-Brahman, where certain sounds are considered elemental, triggering emotional feelings without necessarily having a literal meaning, and this is deemed a sacred, liminal experience of the primeval ultimate reality and supreme truth.[17][18][19] This supreme truth is considered as full of bliss andrasa (emotional taste) in the Hindu thought, and melodic sound is considered a part of human spiritual experience.[17] Devotional music genres such asbhajan are part of a tradition that emerged from these roots.[17]
However, bhajans rose to prominence as a way of expressing fervent devotion to the divine, breaking down barriers of caste and society, during the Bhakti and Sant movements of medieval India (about the 6th to the 17th centuries).
By writing verses in a variety of regional languages, saints and poets like Kabir, Mirabai, Tulsidas, and Surdas played a crucial part in popularizing bhajans and making them understandable to a larger audience. Their Bhajan lyrics emphasized the universality of divine love while praising the intimate connection between the believer and the deity.[citation needed]
ABhajan in Hindu traditions is an informal, loosely structured devotional song with music in a regional language.[20] They are found all over India and Nepal, but are particularly popular among theVaishnav traditions such as those driven by devotion to avatars ofVishnu such asKrishna,Rama,Vitthal andNarayana (often with their consorts).[1][20] In Southern India, Bhajanais follow a tradition (Sampradaya) called theDakshina Bharatha Sampradaya Bhajanai. This involves a tradition that has been followed for the last several centuries and includes Songs/Krithis/Lyrics from great composers all over India encompassing many Indian languages.[21]
ABhajan may be sung individually, but more commonly together as a choral event wherein the lyrics include religious or spiritual themes in the local language.[1][5] Bhajans often describe loving devotion to a deity, legends from the Epics or the Puranas, compositions ofBhakti movement saints, or spiritual themes from Hindu scriptures.[22] The Bhajans in many Hindu traditions are a form of congregational singing and bonding, that gives the individual an opportunity to share in the music-driven spiritual and liturgical experience as well as the community a shared sense of identity, wherein people share food, meet and reconnect.[23]Bhajans have played a significant role in community organization in 19th and 20th century colonial era, when Indian workers were brought to distant lands such asTrinidad,Fiji andSouth Africa as cheap labor on plantations.[24][25][26]
SomeBhajans are centuries old, popular on a pan-regional basis, passed down as a community tradition, while others are newly composed. Everyone in the Hindu tradition are free to compose aBhajan with whatever ideas or in praise of any deity of their wish. But since they are sung, they typically follow meters of classical Indian music, the raga and the tala to go with the musical instruments.[27] They are sung in open air, inside temples such as those of Swaminarayan movement, in Vaishnava monasteries, during festivals or special events, and at pilgrimage sites.[23]
ABhajan is closely related toKirtan, with both sharing common aims, subjects, musical themes and being devotional performance arts. ABhajan is more free in form, and can be singular melody that is performed by a single singer with or without one and more musical instruments.Kirtan, in contrast, differs in being a more structured team performance, typically with acall and response musical structure, similar to an intimate conversation or gentle sharing of ideas, and it includes two or more musical instruments,[28][29] with roots in theprosody principles of the Vedic era.[30]
ManyKirtan are structured for more audience participation, where the singer calls a spiritual chant, a hymn, a mantra or a theme, the audience then responds back by repeating the chant or by chanting back a reply of their shared beliefs.[31][32] ABhajan, in contrast, is either experienced in silence or a "sing along".[28][33]
Stavan is a form of popular and historically pervasive genre of devotional music inJainism.[34] The subject of aStavan varies, ranging from praise of Jina, Jain religious ideas and its philosophy, in a manner similar toBhakti Bhajans.[34]
Jainism rejects any Creator god, but accepts protector deities and rebirth of souls as heavenly beings, and its devotional singing traditions integrate these beliefs.Stavan may include dancing and worship rituals. Known asBhajan in north and west Indian regional languages, aStavan is typically sung as folk melodies by groups of Jain women, and are a formal part of ceremonies and celebrations within Jainism.[35]
Numerous Buddhist traditions use vocal music with instrumental accompaniment as part of their rituals and devotional practices.[36][37] Buddhist vocal music and chanting is often part of Buddhistrituals andfestivals in which they may be seen as offerings to the Buddha.[38]
InSouth Asia, there are still several traditions of Buddhist bhajan singing. One is theNewari BuddhistGunlā Bājan tradition, which has a long history.[citation needed]
Bengali Barua Buddhists also have a tradition of singing songs in the vernacular, which they callBuddha-samkirtan orBuddha kirtan.[39][40]
The Sikh tradition places major emphasis on devotional worship to one formless God, andBhajans are a part of this worship.[41] A more common form of community singing is calledShabad Kirtan in Sikhism.[5][2] AShabad Kirtan is performed by professional religious musicians, whereinbani ('word', or 'hymns') from the Sikh scripture are sung to a certain raga and tala.[42]
A modern Bhajan has no fixed form: it may be as simple as amantra orkirtan or as sophisticated as thedhrupad,thumri orkriti with music based onclassicalragas andtalas.[43]
V. D. Paluskar andV. N. Bhatkhande have combinedIndian classical music with bhajan.Pandit Kumar Gandharva made famous the Nirguni Bhajans ofSant Kabir and Malwa Region. The dancerMallika Sarabhai has produced performances based on bhajans. Abhinaya Chakravathi Sri JS Eswara Prasad Rao of Hyderabad, who is the disciple of AL Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar, Pudukkottai system, has produced performances based on Sampradaya bhajans under the title "Nitrya Sankeerthnam".[citation needed]
Bhajans ofVaishnavism,Shaivism,Shaktism traditions, Vedic mantras and Yoga chants have been composed, published in Western musical sheet format or recorded by western singers such asKrishna Das,Deva Premal,Miten, and by various West Indies singers influenced by East Indian heritage.[44][45][46]
TheStavan compositions and literature of the Jainism tradition are extensive, with a historic overview provided bySri Sudhara Stavan Sangrah, traditionally preserved in "puja box" by Jain families.[47] It is vectored text with Jain lyrics and is canonically inspired.[47]
Kripalu Maharaj is one of the modern era bhakti leaders and bhajan-kirtan composers.[48] He has composed eleven thousand one hundred and elevendoha (couplets) on theleela ofRadha and Krishna, and thedevotional philosophy calledRadha Govind Geet; 1008pad (songs) calledPrem Ras Madira; hundreds ofkirtan in the form ofYugal Shatak andYugal Ras and twelvepad which fully describe the beauty and the decorations of Krishna, and thirteenpad which describe the beauty and the decorations of Radha calledShree Krishn Dwadashi andShree Radha Trayodashi.[49] Renditions of Shree Maharaji'sbhajans andkirtans have been recorded by well-known singers in India such asManna Dey,[50]Ajnish,Anuradha Paudwal andAnup Jalota.[51][52]
In the olden days,Sants such asMirabai,Surdas, andNarsinh Mehta composed several bhajans that are universally sung even today.
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