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Bhajan is an Indian term for any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Dharmic religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means reverence and originates from the root word bhaj (Sanskrit: भज्), which means to revere, as in 'Bhaja Govindam' ( Revere Govinda) . The term bhajana also means sharing.
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. Normally, bhajans are accompanied by percussion instruments such as tabla, dholak or a tambourine. Handheld small ( kartals) are also commonly used to maintain the beat. A bhajan may be sung in a temple, in a home, under a tree in the open, near a river bank or a place of historic significance.Anna King, John Brockington, The Intimate Other: Love Divine in Indic Religions, Orient Longman 2005, p 179. A group of bhajan performers may be known as a maṇḍalī.Flueckiger, Joyce Burkhalter. "LITERACY AND THE CHANGING CONCEPT OF TEXT: Women's Ramayana Maṇḍalī in Central India." In Boundaries of the Text: Epic Performances in South and Southeast Asia, edited by Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger and Laurie J. Sears, 43–60. University of Michigan Press, 1991. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3998/mpub.19503.8.
Having no prescribed form, or set rules, bhajans are normally lyrical and based on melodic . It belongs to a genre of music and arts that developed during the Bhakti movement. It is found in the various traditions of Hinduism as well as Jainism. Within Hinduism, bhajans are particularly prevalent in Vaishnavism.
Ideas from scriptures, legendary epics, the teachings of saints and loving devotion to a deity are typical subjects in bhajans.
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.
Other late Vedic texts mention the two scholars Shilalin (IAST: Śilālin) and Krishashva (IAST: Kṛśaśva), credited to be pioneers in the studies of ancient drama, singing and dance. The art schools of Shilalin and Krishashva may have been associated with the performance of Vedic rituals, which involved story telling with embedded ethical values. 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.ML Varadpande (1990), History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, Abhinav, , pages 45–47
The Vedas and Upanishads celebrate Nada-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. This supreme truth is considered as full of bliss and rasa (emotional taste) in the Hindu thought, and melodic sound is considered a part of human spiritual experience. Devotional music genres such as Bhajan are part of a tradition that emerged from these roots.
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.
A Bhajan may be sung individually, but more commonly together as a choral event wherein the lyrics include religious or spiritual themes in the local language. Bhajans often describe loving devotion to a deity, legends from the Epics or the Puranas, compositions of Bhakti movement saints, or spiritual themes from Hindu scriptures. 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. 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 as Trinidad, Fiji and South Africa as cheap labor on plantations.
Some Bhajans 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 a Bhajan 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. 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.
Many Kirtan 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.Sara Brown (2012), Every Word Is a Song, Every Step Is a Dance, PhD Thesis, Florida State University (Advisor: Michael Bakan), pages 25-26, 87-88, 277 A Bhajan, in contrast, is either experienced in silence or a "sing along".
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 as Bhajan in north and west Indian regional languages, a Stavan is typically sung as folk melodies by groups of Jain women, and are a formal part of ceremonies and celebrations within Jainism.
In South Asia, there are still several traditions of Buddhist bhajan singing. One is the Newar Buddhism Gunla Bajan tradition, which has a long history.
Bengali Barua Buddhists also have a tradition of singing songs in the vernacular, which they call Buddha-samkirtan or Buddha kirtan.Chatterjee, Aparna (2022). The Barua Buddhists: Lineage and Cultural Interface, pp. 91-92. Shhalaj Publishing House.
V. D. Paluskar and V. N. Bhatkhande have combined Indian classical music with bhajan. Pandit Kumar Gandharva made famous the Nirguni Bhajans of Sant Kabir and Malwa Region. The dancer Mallika 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".
Bhajans of Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism traditions, Vedic mantras and Yoga chants have been composed, published in Western musical sheet format or recorded by western singers such as Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Andy Desmond, and by various West Indies singers influenced by East Indian heritage.
The Stavan compositions and literature of the Jainism tradition are extensive, with a historic overview provided by Sri Sudhara Stavan Sangrah, traditionally preserved in "puja box" by Jain families. It is vectored text with Jain lyrics and is canonically inspired.
Kripalu Maharaj is one of the modern era bhakti leaders and bhajan-kirtan composers.Hutton, F. 2008. Rose lore: essays in cultural history and semiotics. Lexington Books. He has composed eleven thousand one hundred and eleven doha (couplets) on the leela of Radha Krishna, and the bhakti philosophy called Radha Govind Geet; 1008 pad (songs) called Prem Ras Madira; hundreds of kirtan in the form of Yugal Shatak and Yugal Ras and twelve pad which fully describe the beauty and the decorations of Krishna, and thirteen pad which describe the beauty and the decorations of Radha called Shree Krishn Dwadashi and Shree Radha Trayodashi.Saraswati, S. 2001. The true history and the relfigion of India: a concise encyclopedia of authentic hinduism. Motilal Banarsidass Renditions of Shree Maharaji's bhajans and kirtans have been recorded by well-known singers in India such as Manna Dey,Kinnear, M. 1985. A discography of Hindustani and Karnatic music. Greenwood Press. Ajnish, Anuradha Paudwal and Anup Jalota. Rang De with Anup Jalota at Radha Madhav Dham, Austin . 20 October 2011. Indo-American News. Retrieved 15 December 2011. Sampradaya Bhajanai, Birmingham, UK. 14 July 2017. How to perform Dakshina Bharatha Sampradaya Bhajanai with English Lyrics.
In the olden days, Sants such as Mirabai, Surdas, and Narsinh Mehta composed several bhajans that are universally sung even today.
Jainism
Stavan is a form of popular and historically pervasive genre of devotional music in Jainism. The subject of a Stavan varies, ranging from praise of Jina, Jain religious ideas and its philosophy, in a manner similar to Bhakti Bhajans.
Buddhism
Numerous Buddhist traditions use vocal music with instrumental accompaniment as part of their rituals and devotional practices.Van Khê, Trân. “Buddhist Music in Eastern Asia.” The World of Music, vol. 26, no. 3, 1984, pp. 22–32. JSTOR, . Accessed 18 Dec. 2023.Mabbett, Ian W. “Buddhism and Music.” Asian Music, vol. 25, no. 1/2, 1993, pp. 9–28. JSTOR, . Accessed 18 Dec. 2023. Buddhist vocal music and chanting is often part of Buddhist Ritual and festivals in which they may be seen as offerings to the Buddha.Arnold et al (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent, p. 247. Taylor & Francis.
Sikhism
The Sikh tradition places major emphasis on devotional worship to one formless God, and Bhajans are a part of this worship. A more common form of community singing is called Sikh music in Sikhism. A Shabad Kirtan is performed by professional religious musicians, wherein bani ('word', or 'hymns') from the Sikh scripture are sung to a certain raga and tala.
Modern composers and singers of Bhajans
A modern Bhajan has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a mantra or kirtan or as sophisticated as the dhrupad, thumri or kriti with music based on classical and talas.
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