Indian Classical Music And Sikh Kirtan
by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982
Later Gurus
View Previous Page - Back to the Table of Contents - View Next Page 
by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982
Later Gurus
Indian Classical Music And Sikh Kirtan by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982 Later Gurus |
| Later Gurus Guru Hargobind the sixth Guru (1595-1644) was a great patron of musicians. He established a new class of singers called dhadhi. They sang of heroic deeds of old warriors and thereby inspired the Guru’s soldiers. Bhai Abdullah was a great devotee of the sixth Guru. He sang Asa-di-var at the Akal Takht. The group of Abdulla and Natha sang the vars, after the conclusion of the evening session. Abdulla played on the sarangi while Natha played on the dhadh (hand-drum). At Kirtapur, Bhai Banwali and Parsram also performed kirtan. Guru Hargobind introduced the new instruments like dhadh and sarangi. Guru Har Rai, the seventh Guru was very fond of kirtan. He showed great respect of Gurbani. On one occasion when some Sikhs approached him while singing hymns, he got up from his couch and bowed to them, thus showing his reverence for kirtan. Guru Har Rai did not see the face of Bhai Ram Rai because the latter changed a line of Sri Gur Granth Sahab, in order to please Emperor Aurangzeb. Guru Tegh Bahadur, the ninth Guru, (1621-75) composed 116 hymns in fifteen ragas. He introduced a new raga called Jaijawanti and composed four hymns therein. His musical skill lies in using the notes of the sargam in his hymns, as for example, Naana, Roop, Dharay, Ram Naam Simaran, Nis Din Sun Puran, etc. His salokas can also be sung according to the times of any of the ragas of his hymns [46]. He took a number of kirtaniyas on his tavels to different parts of India which included Bhai Gulab Rai, Bhai Bhel, Bhai Mansud and Bhai Gurbaksh. Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, (1666-1708) was a great patron of poets and musicians. Baddu and Saddu Rababis used to do Asa-di-var in his court. He composed his hymns in nineteen ragas, some of which are different from those of Sri Guru Granth Sahab, as for example Adan, Paraj and Kafi. He was a versatile genius: “He gave us music, martial and hymnal, sacred and secular, simple and complex. In him, we find a saint singing hymnal songs, a soldier giving martial music, a householder singing virtues of a good life and a painter creating wonderful pictures in music” [47]. He describes God in His aesthetic attributes in Jap Sahab. The beauty of His voice makes Him Geet Geetay-one whose song is the best of all songs-and Tan-Tanay-one whose song is the best of all rhythms. To such God the tenth Guru offers his obeisance. Most of the Sikh Gurus were, in their own right, masters of music and some created new melodies like Rag Tukhari, while some popularised new instruments like sarinda and sarangi. |