Ragamala

[vsgrewal48895]

RAG MALA/ਰਾਗਮਾਲਾ​

In A.D. 1583, a Mohammedan poet by the name of Alim wrote “Madhva Nal Sangit” describing the love affair of Madhava Nal with his beloved Kam Kandala. This work consisted of 353 stanzas of four to six lines each. Rag Mala in AGGS is a part of the above work from sixty third to seventy second stanzas. The account of this story also appears in the tale 91 of Chirtro Pakhyan of Dasam Granth.

AGGS is written in 31 modes of music. The Rag Mala in AGGS describes about 17 of these Raags, Raginis and their subdivisions as sons and daughters of these Ragas. Each Raag is accompanied by five sub-ragas, much like their spouses, along with 8 meters, as their sons, which the musicians sing. By the sunrise they sing, the “Bhairou Raag” along with five more sub-ragas in an accompaniment. First they sing Raag Bhairvi, then Bilawali, second, along with Punia, third, and Bangli, the fourth. Then the fifth sub-raga of Aslekhi, ragini, is sung. These are just the five sub-ragas of Raag Bhairou.

Pancham, Harkh and Disakh are sung next, followed by Bangalam and Madhu Ragas. They are all repeated once more along with Bilawal as the eight shoots of Raag Bhairou. Other Ragas follow similarly. The Ragas mentioned here do not correspond to the Ragas in AGGS. It should be understood that:

A. Rag Mala is NOT Gurbani.
B. It is not clear how and when it was included in the sacred AGGS.

It further raises few questions;

• How many Sikhs know about the number of Raagas used in AGGS?
• How many Raagis know about these Ragas and sing the Gurbani in the Ragas it is supposed to be sung as written?
• How does reading it affect one’s spirituality, how ever it educates one about the Ragas IMHO?
• If Mundavani is the seal placed by Guru Arjan to AGGS then why Guru Gobind Singh broke the seal by adding his father’s Bani and his Sloke # 54 in response to his father’s Sloke # 53 on page 1429 of AGGS.

The above should not be viewed as contentious since the inclusion of Raag Mala has done no harm. On the contrary one learns something about Ragas, through their inclusion and they broaden one’s perspective on music a bit. Hopefully all the Gurbani of AGGS is sung in the modes of music it is written.

Virinder

 

[roab1]

akj believe in charitars as gurbani but do not see raagmala as gurbani??? they accept it at one place and reject it at another? if dg can adapt stories then why cant sggs?

 

[Hardip Singh]

RAG MALA/ਰਾਗਮਾਲਾ​

The above should not be viewed as contentious since the inclusion of Raag has done no harm. On the contrary one learns something about Ragas, through their inclusion and they broaden one’s perspective on music a bit. Hopefully all the Gurbani of AGGS is sung in the modes of music it is written.

Virinder

Nicely said, varinder jeo. Learning something about raags which our learned Guru Sahiban loved so much, is no harm at all.

 

[swarn bains]

Firstly ramaala is gurbani. secondly the rag maala is written in a different way. thirdly when writing a poetry what comes to mind gets lost you do not wrte it right away. Aalm stole rag maala and put in his book madhavnal kaam kandla. the reason is that there is no raag in his book kaam kandla. how czn he write raag maala without any raag in it. the social scholars are lakeer de faqeer. they cannot think with mind. they think and write with brain. brain cannot comprehend gurbani. tranlate raag maala with mind it will turn out to be gurbani

 

[Prof Hardev Singh Virk]

I believe VS Grewal is known to me as Varinder Grewal, a medical doctor. I appreciate his Note on RAG MALA/ਰਾਗਮਾਲਾ but differ on its inclusion in AGGS. He forgot that it is NOT INCLUDED in original Kartarpuri Bir and added in later recensions. Hence, it is not a part of AGGS written by Guru Arjun Sahib. The comments of Swarn Bains are very FUNNY. He misunderstood the Note of VS Grewal and writes that Alam stole it from AGGS.

 

[swarn bains]

Raag mala translation
Rosary of tunes; There is one God. He is realized by guru’s grace. There is one tune (God). The whole world sings His praise in classical Tunes in the group of five; The first major tune is Raag Bhairao (Devotees tune).

Page 1430 It sings praise of God in the group of five including other sub tunes. First sub tunes in the group is Bhairavee, and Bilaavalee; your praises are sung in melodious tunes. Then comes the turn of other truthful tunes; These are the five tunes of major tune Bhairao. All five sing your praises joyfully in godly tunes. Singing your praises in beautiful tunes full of melody; ||1|| Tunes Lalat and Bilaaval, both have their own melody. Everyone is the son of Bhairav (God). Sings your praise with devotion! ||1|| Second major tune is Maalakausak (Acquired knowledge) also sing your praises in the group of five tunes! Gondakaree and Dev Gandhaaree sing your praises in loud voice. Including Dhanaasaree and maal raag in the group of Maalakausak; Maaroo tune is devotional tune of Maiwar sung emotionally in the group. The devotional singers sing their best. Everyone is the son of Maalakausak (God). ||1|| Then comes Hindol (joy); all sing your praises in the group of five. They sing in harmony to the best of their ability. ||1|| Then, comes Taylangee the music of God’s; it is sun with best attire including saffron on forehead. The universe blooms and becomes green O brother; here also your praises are sung in the group of five tunes. The singers come well dressed wearing mascara, scent of sandalwood on the forehead and wearing the sacred thread. The whole atmosphere fills with joy, they sing your praises in tune Basant with musical instruments. God pervades all. Then comes the turn Deepak (enlightenment); ||1|| Todee tune is sung with lot of zest in the group of five tunes. Goojree tune is sung with musical instruments in the group of major tune Deepak. ||1|| The ugly the beautiful and devotees of God; all are the children of the same flower The God. Tune Gauraa, Kaanaraa and Kaylaanaa; all are the son of Deepak tune (God). ||1|| All join and sing Siree Raag (tune to honor God) that also is sung in the group of five. Bairaaree is tune of Karnaatka. The Aasaavaree is sung in a simple tune. Then follows tune Sindhavee; It is also part of the group of tune siree Raag. ||1|| Deep tune Saarag is sung in deep devotion and tune Gond is serious. Everyone is son of Siree Raag (God) whether named Gund, Kumb or Hameer. ||1||The sixth major tune is Megh Raag. (tune of guru’s grace) Also sung in the group of five tunes! The tunes Sorath, Gond, and Malaar are part of Megh raag. Including Aasaa that is sung in slow rhythm in the head; All sung in devotion loudly and form part of group of five the Megh Raag. ||1|| The hard salty land, jungles, the religious shrines, the land of warriors and the land of rivers; Everywhere the devotees and the prophets sing your praises. Those are the names of the sons of Megh Raag. (God) Six major tunes have been sung including the sub tunes totaling thirty in your admiration. One more added later. All are sons of the Creator of music (God) whether eighteen, ten or twenty. ||1||1||

 

[swarn bains]

this is a discussion forum. i am not a scholar. but it is nice to discus and put your openion rathier than point mistaes and pointing fingers. although rag mala is not in kartarpuri beed. but the beed, sikhs follow is written by guru Gobind singh. may be he addede rag mala in it. but remember nobody else has any right to add anything to sggs. By the way the above translation of raag maala is done by me. so let us see how the scholars react to it. thanks

 

[swarn bains]

i had a chance to read rag mala explanation by sant Amir singh javadi taksal. he spent half a hour explaining it. at the end he said search done by shamsher singh soge. he says that the rag mala which has same rag mentioned as in sggs was written in bahadur shah rangeela's time which is after guru gobind singh. he further said the draft is available at kashi. so it was not written in 1583 ad or bc. sikhs make history but do not write history. it is written by either muslims or people from kangra. now it looks like that alam who whote rag mala whih is same as sggs is stolen and written after aurangzeb's time. there may be 2 alam. or times mentioned are different. but saant amir singh says sooner or later the truth is going to come out how alam wrote the same ragmala as sggs. sorry for my comments