Bani Bhagat Pipa Ji

Rag Dhanasari
Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Dhanasari (a musical mode) has been designated the tenth place in the sequence. Under this rag, the Bani of five Gurus and seven Bhagats is recorded from page 660 to 695 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes fourteen Sabads each by Guru Nanak Sahib and Guru Ramdas Sahib, nine by Guru Amardas Sahib, sixty by Guru Arjan Sahib, four by Guru Teghbahadar Sahib, five each by Bhagat Kabir Ji and Bhagat Namdev Ji, three by Bhagat Ravidas Ji and one each by Bhagat Trilochan Ji, Bhagat Pipa Ji, Bhagat Dhanna ji, and Bhagat Sain Ji. The well-known Bani ‘Arti’ revealed by Guru Nanak Sahib is also recorded in this rag. Besides this, more Sabads with similar gist, revealed by Bhagats, are also found in this rag, like:
nāmu tero ārtī majanu murāre. -Guru Granth Sahib 694.
dhūp dīp ghrit sāji ārtī. -Guru Granth Sahib 695.

‘Dhanasari’ is a melodious rag of the Hindustani musical tradition, originating from the northern region of modern India. It is mentioned as a prominent rag in Hindustani Music. In ancient musicology texts, the names of Dhanasari are given as Dhanasi, Dhanayasi, Dhanashri, etc. According to Prof. Piara Singh Padam, ‘Dhanasari’ was the name of a western part of Panjab, and this rag originated from a local tune of this region.

In Hindustani music, Pundrik Vithul considers Dhanasari to be a ragini of Shudh Bhairav ​​rag as per the rag-ragini classification. According to Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha, Dhanasari is a sampuran ragini of Kaphi that. In this verse of the Guru Granth Sahib as well, Dhanasari has been mentioned as a ragini:
dhanāsarī dhanvantī jāṇīai bhāī jāṁ satigur kī kār kamāi. -Guru Granth Sahib 1419.

In the ‘Ragmala’ recorded at the end of the Guru Granth Sahib also, it has been mentioned as a ragini. In this context, Sant Tahil Singh’s statement is worth noting that when the verses or hymns are composed for singing, they are recorded under the title ‘rag.’ The rag, ragini etc., classification is only used in ‘Ragmala.’

But some modern day Sikh scholars argue that only the word ‘rag’ is used in the titles of the Guru Granth Sahib, and the word ‘ragini’ is not written anywhere. Therefore, there is no ragini in the Guru Granth Sahib. They believe that there is no place for the rag-ragini classification in Gurmat Sangit (Sikh Devotional Music).

According to Dr. Gurnam Singh, "Because all the rags employed in the Guru Granth Sahib have a specific doctrine, they can only be made the subject of study from a scientific perspective based on music. To give a direction to the multi-layered rhetoric of the rag-ragini classification prevalent in the Middle Ages, the Guru has used only the word ‘rag’ for all the rags.” At the same time, it is worth mentioning here that in all texts on Hindustani music, there was a tradition of calling and writing the rag-raginis as ‘rag.’ When a rag was described or explained, it was also categorized as rag/ragini at the same time.

According to Bhai Avtar Singh and Gurcharn Singh, Dhanasari is sung in four different ways: Kaphi ang (style), Multani ang, Puria ang and Bhairavi ang. There is no difference in the ascending (aroh) and descending (avroh) scale of these variations of Dhanasari; the difference is only in notes.

Hindustani music experts have mentioned three different forms of Dhanasari. Raghunath Talegavakar and Acharya Krishan Narayan Ratanjanakar have mentioned Kaphi that, Pandit Bhatkhande and Pandit Ram Krishan Vyas have mentioned Kaphi and Bhairavi that, and Vimalkant Rai Chaudhary has mentioned Kaphi and Bhairavi that in addition to another that.

Some old artists of Hindustani Music assume Dhanasari to be Puria Dhanasari belonging to Purabi that. But the artists associated with the musical tradition of Panjab sing Dhanasari in two separate forms of Kaphi that and Bhairavi that, of which the Dhanasari of Kaphi that is more popular.

According to Prof. Kartar Singh, scholars have mostly described the following form of Rag Dhanasari that has originated from Kaphi that. The same form has been accepted by the Rag Nirnayak Committee, which is as follows:

Description of Rag Dhanasari
That: Kaphi.
Svar (notes): Ga and Ni are flat (komal), rest all notes are natural (shudh).
Varjit Svar (forbidden notes): Re and Dha in aroh (ascending scale).
Jati: aurav-sampuran.
Vadi: Pa.
Samvadi: Sa.
Aroh (ascending scale): Sa Ga (komal - flat), Ma Pa, Ni (komal - flat) Sa (tar saptak - upper octave).
Avroh (descending scale): Sa (tar saptak - upper octave) Ni (komal - flat) Dha Pa, Ma Pa Ga (komal - flat), Re Sa.
Mukh Ang/Pakar (Main Part): Ni (komal - flat of mandar saptak - lower octave) Sa Ga (komal - flat), Ma Pa, Ni (komal - flat) Dha Pa, Ma Pa Ga (komal - flat), Re Sa.

Singing Time
The third quarter of the day.