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Hinduism and Music: Past and Present

Religious chant and music occupy a central place within the heritage of the Hindu religion. Unlike some religious traditions in the West, there is no ambiguity about the relationship between music and the divine in Hinduism. Encompassing a broad spectrum from the chanting of ancient Vedic priests to the melodic bhajans of modern day devotees, Hindu religious chant and music are firmly rooted in theological principles of sacred sound found throughout the Vedic and Hindu scriptures and associated with spiritual power and ecstasy from the earliest times. And while there was no single founder of Hinduism who was a musician, as for instance in the case of Sikhism with Guru Nanak, many of the famous rishis or sages in ancient India were, like Narada Rishi, either exemplary musicians or chanters of the Vedic texts. Moreover, most founders of Hindu religious schools or lineages were patrons of music or musically adept, and, conversely, most founders and teachers of Indian musical styles were directly associated with religious lineages.

This essay, summarizing aspects from the series of lectures under the same name at Oxford University during Michaelmas Term 2001, will outline some of the basic theoretical concepts underlying the formation of Hindu religious chant and music, and provide an historical framework for understanding music as a prominent form of religious practice and experience in the living traditions of Hinduism.

Sacred Sound in Hindu Literature
The Hindu sacred texts contributed in large degree to forming a theoretical basis for music to be recognized as a divine art that awarded all four aims of human life, namely dharma (righteousness), artha (wealth), kama (enjoyment), and moksha (liberation), to both the performer and the listener. The Vedas and Upanishads, said to be eternal and authorless, are believed to embody the eternal primeval sound that generates the universe, represented by the syllable Om. The Supreme Absolute underlying all existence described in the Upanishads, Brahman, also exemplified by Om, is comprised of this elemental sound (sabda), and therefore known also as Sabda-Brahman which becomes manifest through the power of oral chant. In the developing Vaisnava, Saiva, and Sakta traditions, and especially in Tantrism, the concept of sacred sound as Sabda-Brahman was gradually eclipsed by the term Nada-Brahman that included musical sounds and non-linguistic sounds heard in deep yogic meditation. Since Brahman pervades the entire universe including the human soul at its core, the notion of sacred sound manifest as chant and music provided a veritable thread binding the human realm to the divine, such that most musicological treatises discuss Nada-Brahman as the foundation of musical sound. Combining the theoretical notions of Nada-Brahman with Hindu aesthetics, the Bhakti traditions of music continue up to the present day.

Considered to be of divine origin, music and sacred sound have always been closely identified with the Hindu gods and goddesses, and form an integral part of the narrative mythology concerning them. The Goddess Sarasvati, always depicted with the vina instrument in hand, is believed to be the divine patron of music and receives the veneration of all students and performers of Indian music. Lord Brahma, who with his consort Sarasvati fashioned Hindu music out of the ingredients of the Sama-Veda, creates the universe and also plays the hand cymbals. The supreme being of the Vaisnava traditions sounds the conchshell as Vishnu the Preserver, and plays the flute as Krishna. Siva, the god of Saivism, plays the damaru drum during the dance of cosmic dissolution. Each of these instruments also symbolizes Nada-Brahman, sacred cosmic sound. Divine manifestations of these deities on earth have stimulated the cultivation of chant and music as an integral part of worship and service, so that wherever they descended on Indian soil, those places gradually became homes to schools of devotional music.

The major theistic traditions of Hinduism, namely Saivism, Saktism and Vaisnavism, are also joined to the concepts of sacred sound such as Om and Nada-Brahman in the sacred texts of their respective theological traditions. In the tradition of Siva worship known as Saivism, the ancient texts of the Saiva-Agamas in South India discuss the syllable Om and speculate on Nada as Sakti and Siva as the Bindu or dot, influencing Saiva-Siddhanta theology and the Saivite Puranas. The pairing of Siva with sacred sound as Nada, Bindu, or Om exists throughout both Saivism and Saktism.

The worship of the Goddess or Devi as supreme is the basis of Sakta-Tantra, and this tradition is replete with esoteric notions of sacred sound. The Sarada-Tilaka-Tantra and other texts of this school discuss Om, mantra, and Nada in relation to Sakta worship and music. Nada-Sakti (female sound energy) is identified with the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet said to reside in the Cakra centers of the human body as in Kundalini-Yoga, a mystical discipline also present in Saiva and Vaisnava traditions.

Vaisnavism, the majority tradition in Hinduism, contains extensive coverage of sacred sound and music throughout its literature that is similar to that found in Saivism and Sakta-Tantra, including the Pancaratra Samhitas, the Vaisnava Puranas such as the Bhagavata-Purana, and the literature of the major Vaisnava groups. Authoritative for nearly all Vaisnava theory and practice, Pancaratra texts such as the Jayakhya-Samhita and Sattvata-Samhita (ca. 500 C.E.) discuss Nada-Brahman as the Sakti of Vishnu, with fuller elaboration in the Ahirbudhnya-Samhita. Furthermore, the Sattvata-Samhita describes the letters of the Sanskrit alphabet as born from Nada, and the Sesa-Samhita enumerates nine components of Om corresponding with names of Vishnu like Narayana, Vasudeva, and Bhagavan Hari.

The major religious lineages of Vaisnavism known as Sampradayas were established by famous saints (acaryas) like Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, Vallabha, and Caitanya who propagated service and devotion (bhakti) to Vishnu or Krishna as the Supreme Brahman. Following the Pancaratras and/or the Bhagavata-Purana, these lineages and others acknowledged Nada as the energy of Vishnu and promulgated music in their temples and shrines.

Nada-Yoga refers to the personal yogic discipline that aims at transcendental inner awareness of Nada-Brahman, and has also influenced Hindu traditions regarding chant and music. Philosophical Yoga, including Patanjali's Yoga-Sutra and its commentaries, endorse the practice of Om meditation and point to the development of Nada-Yoga techniques found in the Yoga Upanishads and the major Hatha-Yoga texts. Notions of bija ("seed") and matrika ("little mother") within the syllables of mantras in Nada-Yoga indicate gender-polarization that reflect the Tantric Om as the embodiment of Siva and Sakti, or Vishnu and Lakshmi in Vaisnavism. Nada-Yoga also involved actual musical sounds heard during Yogic meditation, such as the drum, cymbal, vina, and flute mentioned in the Nadabindu-Upanishad. These sounds correspond with the instruments of music used since Vedic times, confirming an abiding connection between Nada-Yoga and Indian music that sustains its religious foundation.

Before discussing religious music theory and practice, we will consider Vedic chant and its role in the early formation of Hindu religious music.

Vedic Chant and Music in Early Hinduism
The experience of Hindu scripture has been essentially oral from the beginning, with a strong emphasis on maintaining a pure transmission through memorization of the Vedic corpus. The Hindu practice of formal recitation and chanting of sacred utterances in Sanskrit is traceable to the Vedic period (ca. 6000-2000 B.C.E.), when the Rig-Veda was recited by priests during public and private fire sacrifices. Sacred sound during this period was bound up with the Vedic sacrificial cult, whereby the chanted word was recognized by all the schools of Vedic priests as a powerful means to interact with the cosmos and to obtain unseen spiritual merit known as adrsta that would ultimately award a heavenly afterlife to the sacrificer. The power of sound and speech, known as Vak in the Rig-Veda and said to be inherent in the pronunciation and metrical structure of the mantras, was gradually condensed into the syllable Om (AUM) and the metaphysical Sabda-Brahman, and personified as the Goddess Sarasvati, patroness of music and learning.

Special brahmin priests known as Hotr chanted selected verses from the Rig-Veda in roughly three tones that were notated in early manuscripts as accents on particular syllables: anudatta (grave, "not raised"), svarita (circumflex, "sounded"), and udatta (acute, "raised"). The grammarian Panini (4th century BCE), who knew the living tradition, described the svarita tone as connecting the other two. However, modern scholars contend that the svarita was sounded higher than the udatta. As such, the notation practice as interpreted is that udatta, left unmarked, is considered the tonic (such as middle C) and the principal note upon which the chants were generally intoned. The anudatta, marked with an underline, was a whole step below (Bb) while the svarita, marked with a small vertical line above the syllable, was a half step above (Db). Below are two examples of Vedic verses with translation.

Vedic Chant: Gayatri Meter (8 x 3)
Rig Veda 1.1.1
Om agnim ile purohitam yajnasya devam ritvijam
hotaram ratna dhatamam

English translation: "I praise Agni, placed at the head of the sacrifice, Deva, hotr priest, dispensing vast wealth."

Rig Veda 3.62.10 Gayatri Mantra
Om Bhuh Bhuvah Svah
Om tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi
dhiyo yo nah pracodayat

English translation: "Om! Earth, Sky, Heaven. We meditate on the brilliant light of the Sun: May it illuminate our minds."

For purposes of application, verses from the Rig-Veda were arranged according to specific ritual format in the Yajur-Veda, and set to melodies in the Sama-Veda for use during elaborate Soma sacrifices involving the offering of Soma juice, an unidentified plant extract said to be related to the psychedelic mushroom. This juice, mixed with milk and honey, was particularly enjoyed by the god Indra, and was imbibed by the priests as a sacrament after the ritual. The Sama-Veda was also connected with the worship of ancestors, whose abode was the moon, Soma. Great importance was given to the Sama-Veda in the Upanishads, particularly the Chandogya-Upanishad attached to the Sama-Veda.

The verses of the Sama-Veda, known as Samans, were chanted by special brahmin priests known as Udgatri, but unlike the Rig-Veda cantillation were rendered according to pre-existent melodies that contained up to seven tones, thus requiring an adjustment of the tonal system. Whereby the Rig-Veda chants consisted primarily of the above three tonal accents, these had been expanded into seven distinct musical notes as the Vaidik scale in order to sing the Samans or Sama-Veda song-texts. They were called (from F above to G below middle C), prathama, dvitiya, tritiya, caturtha, mandra, atisvarya, and krusta. These notes are in descending order as the melodies of the samans were usually descending in contour. Yet most Saman singing continued to utilize three to four notes primarily, with occasional use of the other two.

The chanted Sama-Veda hymns or Samans were believed to possess the supernatural qualities capable of petitioning and even supporting the deities that controlled the forces of the universe. A unique feature of the Sama-Veda chanting was the insertion of a number of seemingly 'meaningless' words or syllables (stobha) for musical and lyrical effect, such as o, hau, hoyi, va, etc. It was these stobha syllables which were extended vocally with long duration on various notes of the Sama-Veda scale by the Udgatri priests who had the special function of summoning the gods to the celebration through the use of droning (monotone) on a number of these tones, believing them to hold magical properties. Vedic scholar G.H. Thite has explained that, "The poet-singers call, invoke, invite the gods with the help of musical elements. In so doing they seem to be aware of the magnetic power of music and therefore they seem to be using that power in calling the gods." The Vedic gods even seem to have had a sense of music appreciation: "Gods are fond of music. They like music and enjoy it. The poet-singers sing and praise the gods with the intention that the gods may be pleased thereby and having become pleased they may grant gifts." The singing of Samans was so essential to the sacrifice that "without it no sacrifice can go to the gods." The chanting and hearing of sustained musical notes was thus mysteriously linked to the divine at this early stage of Hindu ritual practice.

Precise methods of singing the Samans were established and preserved in three different schools, the Kauthumas, Ranayaniyas, and the Jaiminiyas, the oldest. Each has maintained a distinct style with regard to vowel prolongation, interpolation and repetition of stobha, meter, phonetics, and the number of notes in scales. Accordingly, there has been a fervent regard for maintaining continuity in Sama-Veda singing to avoid misuse or modification over many years. Since written texts were not in use, in fact prohibited, the priests memorized the chants with the aid of accents and melodies, and passed this tradition down orally from one generation to the next for over three thousand years.

The early tradition of Saman singing, additionally, set the stage for the creation and development of Indian classical music known first as Gandharva Sangita, then as simply Sangita. According to Dr. V. Raghavan, Sangita is born from the Sama-Veda: "Our music tradition in the North as well as in the South, remembers and cherishes its origin in the Sama-Veda, the musical version of the Rig-Veda." Hinduism is interestingly one of the few places in world religious music where the 'transition' from religious cantillation or chant, defined normally as comprising a minimum of notes, to music, utilizing the full gamut of notes, has occurred directly within one textual tradition.

Religious Music in Theory
Hindu music, known as Sangita, has three divisions as understood from the musical texts: vocal music, instrumental music, and dance. All three have always been intertwined, whether in religious observances, sacred dramas, or as courtly entertainment.

Sangita utilizes a slightly different musical scale than the above Vaidik scale which was recast into the seven note system (sapta-svara) of the Laukik scale used first in Gandharva Sangita and later in all other Indian musics. Current today, the standardized notes are, sarigamapadhanisa, named after, metaphorically, the sounds of different birds and animals (sadja - peacock, rsabha - bull, gandhara - ram, madhyama - crane, pancama - cuckoo, dhaivata - horse, nisada - elephant). These appear in the Narada-Siksa (1st century CE), where the alleged author Narada Rishi explains how these seven notes were determined from the three Vedic accents: udatta into Ni and Ga, anudatta into Ri and Dha, and Svarita into Sa, Ma, and Pa.

Gandharva Sangita ("celestial music"), the counterpart to the Vedic Samans, was considered to be similar in kind to the music performed and enjoyed in Lord Indra's court in heaven. Viewed as a replica of heavenly archetypes, this ancient religious music was primarily vocal but included instruments such as the vina, flutes, drums, and cymbals, as mentioned in Vedic literature. In fact, the vina was played by the wife of the sacrificer in Vedic rites. The celestial performers of Gandharva Sangita were the Gandharvas, a class of male demigod singers led by Narada Rishi who resided in heaven. They were accompanied by their wives, the dancing Apsaras, and the Kinnaras on musical instruments. Each of these arts were thus considered divine, being performed by divine beings who were each also connected with the Soma plant and sacrifice. The leader of the Gandharvas was Narada Rishi, the son of Brahma and author of seven hymns in the Rig-Veda (and Sama-Veda). He was also said to be the inventor of the vina and the sage who instructed human beings in Gandharva Sangita, having learned it from Sarasvati.

Complex rules and standards for scales, rhythms, and instrumental styles of Gandharva music were gradually codified in a number of texts which came to be known collectively as the Gandharva-Veda, an auxiliary text attached to the Sama-Veda. While several of these much earlier musical works have been lost, the oldest surviving texts of Indian music, the Natya-Sastra by Bharata Muni and the Dattilam by Dattila (both ca. 200 B.C.E), as well as the Narada-Siksa (1st century CE), provide us with glimpses of Gandharva Sangita and its evolution. For example, Bharata had classified musical instruments into four categories based on the Gandharva instruments; vina (chordophones), drum (membranophones), flute (aerophones), and cymbals (idiophones). These four divisions (given in parenthesis) formed the basis of the Sachs-Hornbostel system used in the current academic field of Ethnomusicology. Also, the term raga ("musical mood or flavor") as a type of scale or melodic formula first mentioned in the Narada-Siksa, was derived from the parent jati enumerated in Bharata's work.

Gandharva music soon developed into the principal style of music that was performed in Hindu festivals, courtly ceremonies, and temple rituals in honor of the emerging great gods and goddesses like Siva, Vishnu, Brahma, Ganesha, and Devi. In the ancient epics and Puranas there are descriptions of temple musicians and dancers who performed for the pleasure of these deities, and there are numerous historical references to temple music since antiquity. Music was also associated with sacred dramatic performances, as firmly evidenced in Bharata's Natya-Sastra. Special songs used to propitiate the gods, called dhruva, were rendered, not in Sanskrit, but in Prakrit, a derivative language with less rigid grammatical construction, leading to the evolving vernaculars. The Dhruva was the prototype of the Medieval prabandha which was the basis of classical devotional forms sung in vernacular known as Dhrupad (Dhruvapad) in the North and Kriti in the South. The rapidly developing music of India also enlarged itself with materials from outside the original repertoire.

By the period of the early Bhakti movements in South India (7th to 10th centuries CE), Indian musicological treatises, such as Matanga's Brhaddesi, began to incorporate the theories of sacred sound as Nada-Brahman and the speculations of Nada-Yoga and the Tantra traditions, interpreting all music as a direct manifestation of Nada-Brahman. This integral connection of music with Nada was "essential to Indian views of the soteriological significance of music, for music, as a manifestation of Nada, is seen as a mode of access to the highest reality." Music as such was viewed as both entertainment and as a personal vehicle toward moksha, liberation.

Subsequent musicological authors influenced by Matanga discussed Nada-Brahman in relation to the gods and as present throughout the cosmos including all living beings. For example, the Sangita-Ratnakara of Sarngadeva (ca. 1200-1250 C.E.), arguably the most important musicological treatise of India, opens with the salutation: "We worship Nada-Brahman, that incomparable bliss which is immanent in all the creatures as intelligence and is manifest in the phenomena of this universe. (1) Indeed, through the worship of Nada-Brahman are worshipped gods (like) Brahma, Visnu, and Siva, since they essentially are one with it. (2)" Thus by this time there is a full conflation of the tradition of sacred sound in India (i.e., Nada-Brahman speculation) with the art of music in all its phases, including religious, secular, classical, and folk. Bhakti is the concept of approaching God through love and devotion as found in the literature of classical Hinduism such as the epics, the Puranas, and the Bhagavad-Gita. The Bhagavad-Gita, with its direct exposition of the principles of Bhakti by Krishna, is a favorite text for recitation by Hindus in groups or in private. This is done through simple repetition of melodic motifs with verses in strophic form.

Celebrated as a distinct salvific doctrine and mode of religious life superior to knowledge (jnana) and works (karma), bhakti became the primary motive for religious music from the early Medieval period. As early as the 6th century CE in South India, Bhakti emerged as a powerful force that favored a devotion-centered Hinduism with song-texts composed, not only in Sanskrit, but in vernacular languages. At the head were two main groups of poet-singer-saints in South India who propagated devotion to Siva and Vishnu: the Saivite Nayanars and the Vaisnava Alvars. The collections of their devotional poetry in Tamil represent the oldest surviving verses in Indian vernaculars, and became the first hymnals of Bhakti-Sangita or devotional music; the Saivite Tevaram and the Vaisnavite Naliyar Prabandham.

Directly related to the word bhakti and a word for Supreme Being, Bhagavan, is the term bhajan, which means musical worship. Bhajan shares with them the common Sanskrit root bhaj, 'to share, to partake of' (as in a ritual). Bhagavan means the Lord who possesses bhaga, good fortune, opulence. Bhajan, as a kind of generic term for religious or devotional music apart from Vedic chant and Gandharva Sangita, is directly linked to the rising Bhakti movements, and is performed so that God, Bhagavan, is praised, worshipped, or otherwise appeased in a mutual exchange of loving affection, or Bhakti. Within the Bhakti traditions, there were a number of different styles of "bhajan" or Bhakti-Sangita, ranging from formal temple music to informal group or solo songs. Hindu religious music incorporated a simple aesthetic that reflected back to these emerging Bhakti movements and their perspectives on music as a means toward communion with a chosen deity. The Upanishads describe Brahman, the Supreme Truth, as full of bliss and rasa ('emotional taste, pleasure'). In theistic Vedanta, Brahman as supreme personal deity, whether Vishnu, Siva, or Sakti, was believed to be the fountainhead and source of all rasa, and extremely fond of music. The emotional experience of music produced by the musicians in the minds of the listeners (bhava) was thus also linked to God and Brahman.

The musical scales or melody formulas of Hindu music, known as raga, are said to be eternal and must be discovered much like the Vedas themselves. Each raga possesses a particular mood or flavor (rasa) mysteriously embodied within it, and is capable of generating those same feelings within the mind of the listener and performer when properly invoked. When those feelings are directed to God as Brahman or Isvara, the result is higher attachment (also called raga). And if the music is both understood as Nada-Brahman and performed properly in the spirit of Bhakti, then the musician and the listener are said to gain release and the association of Isvara ('Supreme Controller') in both this life and the next. There is a catch phrase among musicians in India; "through svara ('musical notes'), Isvara (God) is realized."

Rhythm or tala is also important in religious music from a theoretical point-of-view. Vedic ritual chants were punctuated by metrical divisions that, besides being aids to memorization, generated distinct units of unseen merit (adrsta) that accrued to the priest or sacrificer leading to afterlife in heaven. In Gandharva, music similar metrical units were marked by the playing of drums and hand cymbals (kartal or jhanjh) made of metal. The idea of punctuated units of rhythm in music carrying the same soteriological effect as the Vedic adrsta was explained in classical music texts such as the Dattilam. Since Vedic chant was metrical, religious music must have a distinct rhythm or division of musical time sequence for it to provide the above benefits to the listener or performer. This was provided by the hand cymbal rhythms and the beats of the drums. The ancient theory of music held that the musicians and audience earned liberation solely through accumulation of unseen merit (adrsta) as exemplified in the marking of ritual (musical) time. However, the emerging sense of release (moksha) within the Bhakti music was also dependent on the emotion or feelings of the practitioners with regard to the developing personal relationship with their deity, including the proper rasa and bhava states.

Bhakti literature rapidly accommodated an expanding assortment of song-texts in regional vernacular languages. Yet many of these were stimulated by the Gita-Govinda by Jayadeva, a Sanskrit work of 12th century CE Bengal that contained linguistic innovations in Sanskrit meter that influenced the development of vernacular musical composition in Prakrit, Apabhramsa, and special dialects like Braj Bhasha and Brajbuli. There was in fact a magnificent outpouring of devotional poetry from the fourteenth century that addressed almost every deity of the Hindu pantheon, with nearly every region of India producing its own composer of songs to a favored deity. In the North, Sur Das wrote about Krishna as Sri Nathji in Braj Bhasha, Tulasi Das addressed Lord Rama in Avadhi, Tukaram and Namdev in Marathi devoted to Krishna as Vitthala, Mira Bai in Rajasthani and Hindi addressed to Krishna as Giridhar Gopal, Vidyapati in Maithili and Brajbuli to Radha-Krishna as well as Siva, Chandidas in Bengali devoted to Radha and Krishna, Govinda Das in Brajbuli to Radha-Krishna and Caitanya, Ramprasad in Bengali devoted to Goddess Kali, and Sankaradeva in Assamese devoted to Krishna. In the South, Purandaradasa wrote in Kannada expressing devotion to Vishnu, Syama Sastri in Telugu devoted to the Goddess Kamaksi, Annamacharya in Telugu in devotion to Lord Venkatesvara, and Tyagaraja in Telugu devoted to Lord Rama. These composers, among many others, are believed to have achieved eternal liberation through singing and music-making.

Religious Music in Practice: Past and Present
As music in the Christian churches was a source for classical music in Western countries, the various traditions of religious music in India described here that developed in specific sacred places and within religious lineages provided source material for Indian classical music. Similar to the West, classical music in India refers to art music performed in the ruling courts by professional, skilled artists that pursued its own course guided by the preferences of patrons, individual improvisation, and even foreign influences. This type of music tended to showcase virtuosity, creativity, and 'art for art's sake.' Sometime after the 13th century the traditions separated into northern and southern classical music. Southern Carnatic music is grounded upon the devotional music that Vaisnava and Saiva saints performed in the temples and shrines of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. What became known as Hindustani music in northern regions stems from the temple music, especially Dhrupad, that was performed by Vaisnava musicians in Mathura, Vrindaban, Gwalior, and in places in Rajasthan, Maharastra, Gujarat, Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh. The presence of Persian culture in the North also influenced the development of Hindustani music.

In the North, the musical style of Dhrupad provided an ideal vehicle for the vernacular Bhakti lyrics, and several new related genres of music emerged that included Haveli Sangit, Samaj-Gayan, and Padavali-Kirtan. Dhrupad, linked to the Prabandha songs of earlier Sanskrit treatises, refers to the formal, slow, four-section vocal rendition of a poem using the pure form of a raga, along with the rhythms of mainly Cautal (12 beats), and Dhamar (14 beats). Since most of the new devotional poems contained at least four lines, there was a natural division into the four parts of Dhrupad (sthayi, antara, sancari, and abhog). Dhrupad spread as a classical form wherever it was patronized by the ruling elite, both in temples and ruling courts.

Swami Haridas (ca. 1500-1595 CE), said to have been an expert singer and musician of the Dhrupad style and the "Father of Hindustani Music," was traditionally the teacher of Tansen who sang at the court of Akbar in the 16th century CE, and whose disciples were almost solely responsible for the transmission of Hindustani classical music through the Mughal period and thereafter. Due to his ardent singing to Sri Banke Bihari, his deity of Krishna, Swami Haridas is believed to have achieved eternal association with Radha and Krishna.

The same is said for Sur Das (16th century CE), a blind musician-poet who was associated with the Vallabha Sampradaya and early Haveli Sangit. He spent his entire life singing to Krishna, and according to his work Sur-Sagar, singing was the most viable means of salvation: "If anything in the Sur Sagar spells release and salvation, it is the act of singing itself. Song, for Sur--singing to the Lord--is as close as one can come to salvation." This position indeed exemplifies the general attitude shared by all the Bhakti poets toward religious music and singing.

Most songs in the Hindustani vocal classical repertoire are drawn from Krishna pastimes, including the festival associated with Holi in the Spring season. They are taken directly or adapted from the vast Vaisnava literature written in Braj Bhasa.

In the South, Carnatic music included the devotional compositions of Purandaradasa (1480-1564 CE), a Vaisnava musician who is said to have composed nearly half a million songs, known as Kirtanas. Hailed as the "Father of Carnatic Music," he was the main inspiration of Tyagaraja (1759-1847 CE), whose devotional Kritis ('compositions,' evolved from Kirtanas) in Telugu to Lord Rama comprise the major portion of the current repertoire of South Indian music. Tyagaraja is recognized as part of a trinity of great musician-poets from Tiruvarur that included Syama Sastri and Muttuswami Dikshitar, composers of songs to the Goddesses Kamaksi and Minakshi.

The musical texts and traditions cited above provided a common root for a pan-Indian religious musical tradition, and set standards of scale and rhythm systematization. In this way, religious music developed along very similar lines regardless of sectarian message or affiliation. For example, whether believers in Nirguna (Absolute without qualities), Saguna (Absolute with qualities), Vaisnava, Saiva, or Sakta deities, all drew from the evolving musical genres, patterns of raga and tala structures, and assortment of instruments.

In practical application, religious music that fills a liturgical function is the most conservative with very close attention given to the text and its clear pronunciation, at the same time maintaining established patterns of performance over many generations. Although melody and rhythm are important, musical virtuosity for its own sake is normally discouraged, in contrast with the developing classical traditions that lauded improvisation and technical mastery. Essentially monophonic and without Western harmony, religious singing normally abstains from the excessive vocal styling found in classical singing. Though devotional music includes a large variety of styles and forms, no single formula has been mandated to the exclusion of others. And within certain guidelines, religious and devotional songs continue to be composed or arranged by musicians and religious leaders.

Religious musics, including the forms discussed here, are mostly observed as group enterprises with participants seated on the floor in proximity to a lead singer. The exceptions are standing groups in temples or in procession. Generally a separate area in the temple facing or adjacent to a deity or picture is designated for music. Reading from an anthology of verses, lead singers often accompany themselves on the harmonium, a floor version of the upright, portable reed organ used by 19th century Christian missionaries. The metal reed used in the harmonium, however, is Indian in origin, linked to the pungi or snake-charmers instrument, and is also the basis for the Western harmonica and accordion. Group members repeat after the leader in unison, but the leader may also sing solo or with occasional refrains by the group. To facilitate religious music, there are a large number of published hymnals in use by various religious groups.

Bhajan ensembles often include other musical instruments. Percussion instruments, membranophones and idiophones, include pairs of hand cymbals called kartal or jhanjh, drums such as the tabla, pakhavaj, dholak, or khole, and occasionally bells, clappers, or tambourines. Bowed chordophones such as the sarangi or esraj may accompany the singing, but the harmonium has tended to replace these. A background drone may be provided by a tamboura if not by the harmonium or a Sruti Box, a small pumped instrument used in Carnatic music.

While most every Hindu religious gathering includes chant or music, many earlier forms of devotional music have been supplanted by a looser style of bhajan that is becoming more widespread in India and the Hindu Diaspora. As the Bhakti movements stressed class egalitarianism, bhajan sessions continue to stress openness to people of all social strata, and frequently form part of congregational rites in which there is a sharing of Bhakti experiences. Similar for male, female, or mixed gatherings, they are more flexible regarding attendance and may take place anytime. There are also occasions where they last continuously (24 hours) for several days, a common occurrence in Bengal where intensive akhanda ('unbroken') sessions of Nam-Kirtan are regularly carried out. Distinct from other Hindu occasions, such as specialized pujas or rites of passage, the atmosphere of the bhajan session fosters intimate and informal social relationships where all participants sit, sing, and eat together regardless of caste, gender, or religious viewpoint.

Beginning with the chanting of Om, a bhajan session proceeds with invocations in Sanskrit in honor of a guru, master, or deity, followed by sequences of bhajan songs that reflect the group's distinct or eclectic religious outlook, sometimes punctuated by short sermons or meditative recitations of Sanskrit verses from scriptures. Toward the closing, an Arati ceremony is conducted as part of the puja ("worship service") that includes offerings of food, flowers, incense, lamps, and blowing of conches. Distribution of food, flowers, lampwick, and holy water concludes.

As musical compositions, bhajan songs in the current context range from complex structures to simple refrains or litanies containing divine names. Most have their own distinctive tune and rhythm that is easily followed by the public, yet some are based on classical ragas and talas and require musical skill. The most common talas are up-tempo, such as Keherva, eight beats roughly corresponding to a Western cut-time in 4/4. The sixteen-beat tintal serves as a variable straight 4/4 time sequence with an accent on the first beat. Another common rhythm is Dadra, a six-beat tala corresponding to Western 3/4 or 6/8.

Padavali-Kirtan of Bengal is one of the most refined forms of devotional music in India, extending back almost 500 years to the time of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who is viewed as an incarnation of Krishna. It combines recitation of religious narratives with songs composed by Bhakti saints in Bengali or Brajbuli language. The songs include short improvisatory phrases called "akhar" added into the song-texts by the singers themselves for purposes of interpreting or reiterating the meaning in colloquial language for the benefit of the audience. The performers usually include a vocalist (s), khole player (drummer), hand cymbal player, and sometimes a violinist or flautist.

As an individual endeavor, "bhajan" may also indicate the private practices of spiritually-advanced devotees in their worship of a particular form of God. This would include chanting on rosary beads, singing to oneself during personal puja activities, and cantillation of scripture. The rosary chanting of mantras, called japa, while not done in a singing style with a melody, is normally chanted in declamatory fashion in one or two monotones. Indeed, from Vedic chant to classical singing to bhajan, the power of the sustained musical tone or note cannot be underestimated within the Hindu consciousness.

The public or collective singing of the names of God, as in Sita-Ram, Hare Krishna, Hare Rama, Radhe Shyam, Om namah Sivaya, Jai Mata Di, etc., is very popular everywhere in India and is called Nam-Kirtan, Nam-Sankirtan, or Nam-Bhajan. In the South, the Nama-Siddhanta tradition of Bodhendra, Sri Venkatesa, and Sadguruswami developed a distinctive Advaitic tradition of Nam-Bhajan. Many South Indian bhajans are adaptations of these original songs. Sung to simple melodies accompanied by drums and cymbals, Nam-Kirtan or Nam-Bhajan expresses fervent devotion and serves as a means of spiritual release. The following chant is known as the Mahamantra, Great Mantra for Deliverance, and was propounded by Caitanya and other Bhakti saints and continued in India by many pious Hindus and also worldwide by Indian and non-Indian members of the Hare Krishna Movement (ISKCON). It is a petition to Radha ("Hara"), the energy of Krishna, and to Krishna who is also full of pleasure ("Rama").

Nam Kirtan, "Hare Krishna"
Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare

Religious and devotional music permeate the modern movements of Hindu saints such as Swami Sivananda, Satya Sai Baba, Anandamayi Ma, Sri Aurobindo, Swami Rama, Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, among many others. Bhajans are also widely performed among various Yoga and New Age groups and by non-Indian Hindus and Buddhists. In addition, while a new style of improvised solo bhajan has entered the classical concert stage, the Pop Bhajan has achieved great success along with devotional songs sung by playback singers in Indian films. Film Aratis such as "Om Jaya Jagadisha Hari" (from the Hindi film Purab aur Paschim) are now widely used in home and temple worship routines all over the world.

In conclusion, music is an extraordinarily significant component of Hindu religious practice, and persists today throughout India and the world in maintaining religious faith, cultural ties, and moral discipline. Performed by skilled musicians or lay enthusiasts, Hindu music continues to serve as a vehicle for religious teachings and as a source of spiritual renewal and ecstasy. And alongside the newer bhajan forms, traditional religious and devotional music endures in the multiple temples, shrines, and domestic chapels that abide in the villages and endless countryside of India.

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