The Samāj-gāyan Tradition: Transmitting a Musico-Religious System in North India

Abstract

Against the spiritual background of bhakti, Hindu devotees sing songs for the gods in different styles, languages and repertoires. Hindu religious vocal music has a variety of traditions such as bhajans,1) kīrtans,2) āratīs,3) and visnu pads.4) These kinds of vocal music might be generically named bhakti san4 gīt (bhakti music), although this is not a popular expression in North India. Samāj-gāyan, a tradition only seen in the Braj area of northern India, is also regarded as one of the bhakti san4 gīts. It is noteworthy for the remarkable characteristics of its singing form. It is sung in call-and-response style, with all the processes learned by heart, and the singing form is extremely complicated and systematic. Samāj-gāyan is a unique form of Indian musical tradition, both in terms of classical (Hindustani) music and folk music. This article examines the reasons for the development of such a specific system of singing as samāj-gāyan by analyzing its musical aspects and underlying religious thought. For as long as this singing has been practiced, the musical style must have embodied some religious necessity in itself. I conjecture that devotees have gradually developed this style of singing over a period of about 400 years, since the founders started samāj-gāyan in their temples, as an inevitable consequence of its religious and spiritual aspects, and that the special style of singing and the musical structure itself consequently functioned as educational and practical devices for handing down the samāj-gāyan tradition to the next generation. What follows is my analysis of the published texts of the songs, musical examples and other materials collected through fieldwork, and interviews with singers and devotees in temples where samāj-gāyan has been practiced. Fieldwork in India was conducted for 20 months in 1984 and 1985 and for 3 weeks each in 1986 and 1996.

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