Indian Classical Music And Sikh Kirtan by Gobind Singh Mansukhani (M.A., LL.B, Ph.D.) © 1982 Harmonious Blend of Poetry and Music |
| Harmonious Blend of Poetry and Music The Gurus were experts in the harmonious blending of their poetic compositions with the appropriate melodic types and rhythms. By their uncanny instinct, they matched the raga with the individual hymnal composition. This harmony imparts both beauty and vitality of their compositions and creates the appropriate rasa and impact on the audience. This coordination is reflected in the diction, imagery, prosody and theme of the composition on the hand, and the choice of the raga, its ethos and its spirit on the other. Here is just one example each of this rare harmony between matter and melody from the compositions of the first Guru and last Guru. In raga Basant which is specially suitable for the spring season as its very name indicates, Guru Nanak uses the image of the tree (the devotee) which in spring (kirtan) blooms to (spiritual) fruition. Man can enjoy the eternal spring if he leads a life of holiness and meditation: “The virtuous deeds are the tree, God’s Name its branches, Faith its flowers, and divine knowledge its fruit, Attainment of God are its leaves and effacing the ego its dense shade.... Nanak, they who by Guru’s grace merge in God, wither not and ever remain green”[48]. In the khayal form of composition. Guru Gobind Singh composed the following hymn which is rich in visual images: “Without Thee, rich coverings are an agony to us, And to live in the comfort of our households Is like living with snakes! Our water-pots Have become like pikes on which we are impaled; The cup we drink from has an edge like a dagger!” [49]. |