"Hinduism"

Religions, 2019

https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10020085. While music plays a significant role in many of the world’s religions, it is in the Hindu religion that one finds one of the closest bonds between music and religious experience extending for millennia. The recitation of the syllable OM and the chanting of Sanskrit Mantras and hymns from the Vedas formed the core of ancient fire sacrifices. The Upanishads articulated OM as Śabda-Brahman, the Sound-Absolute that became the object of meditation in Yoga. First described by Bharata in the Nātya-Śāstra as a sacred art with reference to Rasa (emotional states), ancient music or Sangīta was a vehicle of liberation (Mokṣa) founded in the worship of deities such as Brahmā, Vishnu, Śiva, and Goddess Sarasvatī. Medieval Tantra and music texts introduced the concept of Nāda-Brahman as the source of sacred music that was understood in terms of Rāgas, melodic formulas, and Tālas, rhythms, forming the basis of Indian music today. Nearly all genres of Indian music, whether the classical Dhrupad and Khayal, or the devotional Bhajan and Kīrtan, share a common theoretical and practical understanding, and are bound together in a mystical spirituality based on the experience of sacred sound. Drawing upon ancient and medieval texts and Bhakti traditions, this article describes how music enables Hindu religious experience in fundamental ways. By citing several examples from the modern Hindustani classical vocal tradition of Khayal, including text and audio/video weblinks, it is revealed how the classical songs contain the wisdom of Hinduism and provide a deeper appreciation of the many musical styles that currently permeate the Hindu and Yoga landscapes of the West.

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts. Edited by Frank Burch Brown. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014

pp. 358-366

In all ages music plays an important role in the practice of religion. At the early stage of human civilization, humankind worshipped various supernatural entities and tried to please them with the help of various musical and dancing activities. That was the beginning of a long journey of inter-relations between religion and arts or rather performing arts. The Pharaonic rites seen on the tombs of many Pharaos and noblemen included music. In other religions such as Judaism and Christianity, people used music as an integral part of their worship and religious celebrations. A lot of music was composed to complement religion, and many composers derived inspirations from their own religion. Many forms of religious music emerged in order to fit religious purposes. Christian church music and temple music in the east underwent the same kind of religious influence. Religious music often changes to fit with the requirement of the times. In ancient Vedic civilization, chanting music was practised praising various nature-gods like -Agni, Indra, Vāyu, Soma, Viśvāmitra, Vyāsa and many others. Verses from Sāma Veda were used to sing applying a set of simple melody during various religious performances. During the following era a distinct inter-relation between musical performance and religious as well as spiritual thinking established in almost every human civilization. In Purānic age in India, sometimes music was considered as dignified and pure as "Brahma", the eternal spirit of life. Goddess Sarasvati is recognized as the deity of learning and music. Due to that reason, she was frequently worshipped by the composers of Purānas, musical treaties and literary texts. All these facts clearly reflect the delicate fabrics woven between musical and religious activities throughout the ages. Later in the 14 th chapter of the 4 th volume of Brhaddharma Purāna, Devarśi Nārada is found describing "music" as similar with lord Vishnu by saying -"Gānanca Brahma". Not only that, he also says that "music" and "Vishnu" both are derived out of Brahma or parts of Brahma, the eternal entity. Since 14 th century in various musicological texts and Purānas the "Dhyāna Rupa' of

Religions, 2023

Music has played a central role in Indian religious experience for millennia. The origins of Indian music include the recitation of the sacred syllable OM and Sanskrit Mantras in ancient Vedic fire sacrifices. The notion of Sound Absolute, first in the Upanishads as Śabda-Brahman and later as Nāda-Brahman, formed the theological background for music, Sangīta, designed as a vehicle of liberation founded upon the worship of Hindu deities expressed in rāgas, or specific melodic formulas. Nearly all genres of music in India, classical or devotional, share this theoretical and practical understanding, extending to other Indic religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. What is less documented is how rāga music has been adopted by non-Indic communities in South Asia: Judaism (Bene Israel), Christianity (Catholic), and Islam (Chishti Sufi). After briefly outlining the relation between religion and the arts, the Indian aesthetics of Rasa, and the basic notions of sacred sound and music i...

Journal of Dharma Studies, 2019

Sound creates a spiritual connection between music-maker and music-lover. Music resonates within the human spirit. At the heart of humanity is a song of the soul. The spiritual significance of music can transcend communities, cultures, and creeds. A musician perpetually dwells in the spiritual as he is in touch with musical tunes. Although, during routine practices and strive to achieve the consequence, he might not value the fact of his constant transcendence towards divinity and spirituality. In maintaining the fine balance between the happiness gained societal achievements and self-satisfaction, he might falter from the inner path and move towards the worldly success. In recent Indian classical music genres, there are the plethora of forms which helps one to reside and get accumulate within the spiritual aura through musical tunes and sounds. In this paper, several already in trend and new (upcoming) genres of Indian classical forms are discussed which, apart from being commercialized, often help us to ponder within ourselves and find the inner being and divinity through music.

2014

This dissertation centres on philosophical attitudes presented by North Indian classical musicians in relation to the concept and experience of rāga improvisation. In Hindustāni music, there is a dynamic tension between ideology and pragmatism, devotion and entertainment, fixity and improvisational freedom, and cognition and visceral experience. On one hand, rāga is an embodied methodological template for the creation of music. On the other hand, rāga improvisation is conceptualised as a path to metaphysical experience and as an evocation of an ineffable divine presence. A masterful rendition of rāga is both a re-enactment of a systematic prescribed formula and a spontaneous flow of consciousness. This study presents these apparent dichotomies to highlight ideological concerns, while simultaneously contextualising philosophical idealism in relation to pragmatic realities. A central paradigm is the manner in which pragmatic concerns are elevated in status and given spiritual significance. The dissertation begins with a view into historical and religious context. The discussion continues with a speculative investigation positing co-relations between Hindustāni music and central tenets of Indian philosophy, considering how rāga improvisation may manifest as a philosophy of sound. The study then explores the concept of rāga, a modal and conceptual construct that forms the heart of Indian classical music. The final three sections ground the subject of spiritual ideology within the life experience of Hindustāni musicians: ‘Transmission’ looks at the learning and enculturation process, which encapsulates values intrinsic to the ethos of Hindustāni music culture. ‘Practice’ explores the discipline, science and experience of musical practice, revealing core ideological concerns connecting spirituality to musical experience; and ‘Performance’ examines the live presentation of rāga improvisation, and the relationship between music as ‘entertainment’ and music as ‘devotion’. Both ethnographic and musicological, this research is the culmination of various fieldtrips to India, extensive interviews with Hindustāni musicians, fifteen year’s sitār training, and the study of relevant musicological and philosophical texts.

2013

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Physical Therapy from the University of North Dakota, has been read by the Advisor and Chairperson of Physical Therapy under whom the work has been done and is hereby approved.

Journal of Dharma Studies, 2019

As a young booklover frequenting used book stores 50 years ago, I was sometimes mystified to open old books with titles like BHistory of Religions^ or BFaiths of the World^ to find only accounts of Western examples-European, BMiddle Eastern,^ and American. What about Asian traditions? As a scholar of religions and music, Guy Beck had a similar question regarding studies of liturgy. Knowing that India has rich traditions of religious music in rituals going back thousands of years, Beck undertook a project to enrich Western-centric liturgy studies with detailed examples of the theories and practices of music in India's religious traditions. His first book, Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (1993), was a significant contribution to Western understanding of the importance of sacred sound in Hindu worldviews. But because theory alone does not suffice to fathom fully the role music and sacred sound play in religion Beck next wrote Sonic Liturgy: Ritual Music in Hindu Tradition (2012), in which he argues Bthat sound and music provide that necessary bond between myth (words) and ritual (action) in religion. And for ritual worship to sustain that necessary element of mystery within religious life, music must be acknowledged as the most important and vital balancing factor between word and action in religious rituals, public and private, preventing their decline into the extremes of either verbal pedagogy or mindless ritualistic actions.^ (p. 17) Beck's compelling focus probes the ways music functions in India as a linchpin connecting faith and practice in countless lives engaged in spiritual traditions throughout the ages. In Sonic Liturgy, Beck presents a chronological unfolding of creative developments in major aspects of religious music in the subcontinent: In ancient India, he considers the roles of yajna and sama gana. In classical India, he explores puja and gandharva sangit. In medieval India, he delves into temple Hinduism and bhakti sangit with padas, kirtanas, and bhajans. And, delving into recent and current times, he discusses seva and haveli sangit and also seva and samaj gayan.

In Bastar (Chhattisgarh), the music (shawm and kettle drums) of the sacrificial rituals is made of series of tunes (not fixed in advance) dedicated to the village deities and played in front of the mediums possessed by them. Could the musical structures of this repertoire shed light on the organization of the local pantheon it serves? Starting from this hypothesis, the musicological analysis eventually reveals the pointlessness and perhaps the impossibility of building musical and god categories, since the system seems to follow a different logic. As much as talks often turn contradictory, the flexibility of the musical structure makes it difficult to grasp. Yet this sacred repertoire does reflect the invisible world. Like the pantheon, the music takes shape and is experienced in the very moment of the ritual: the meaning of this ritual music is thus to be sought in the ritual itself.