Sohila

Sabad 1
Rag Gauri
Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag ‘Gauri’ (a musical mode) has been designated the third place in the sequence. Under this rag, five Gurus and three Bhagats’ compositions have been recorded from page 151 to 346 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes 40 Sabads of Guru Nanak Sahib, 39 Sabads of Guru Amardas Sahib, 115 Sabads of Guru Ramdas Sahib, 462 Sabads of Guru Arjan Sahib, and 9 Sabads of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib. From the Bhagats, 143 Sabads of Bhagat Kabir, 1 Sabad of Bhagat Namdev, and 5 Sabads of Bhagat Ravidas are recorded under this rag.

Rag Gauri is an ancient and prevalent rag. In the old Indian music texts, it is also written as gorī, gavrī, gaürī, gauṛī, etc. In Gurmat Sangit, Rag Gauri has an important place. Guru Arjan Sahib has also mentioned this rag in his Bani: gaüṛī rāgi sulakhaṇī je khasmai citi karei. bhāṇai calai satigurū kai aisā sīgāru karei. -Guru Granth Sahib page 311.

In the Guru Granth Sahib there are eleven recorded forms of Rag ‘Gauri’: Gauri Guareri, Gauri Dakhani, Gauri Bairagan, Gauri Cheti, Gauri Dipki, Gauri Purbi, Gauri Purbi Dipki, Gauri Majh, Gauri Malwa, Gauri Mala and Gauri Sorath.

Out of the five Sabads under the ‘Sohila’ Bani, the first Sabad is recorded in ‘Rag Gauri Dipki.’ Therefore, only Rag Gauri Dipki is discussed here. This rag is mentioned only in the Guru Granth Sahib, and it contains only this one Sabad of Guru Nanak Sahib. From this, it can be inferred that Guru Nanak Sahib himself developed this rag.

‘Gauri Dipki’ falls under the category of rarely sung rags. This rag is composed by the melodious combination of ‘Gauri’ and ‘Dipki.’ Thus, it is counted among the thirty-one mixed rags recorded in the Guru Granth Sahib.

Scholars who follow the ragang method, begin this rag with the Dipki and the Purbi Ang, and analyze its form in two ways:
Dipak Ang: Ni (mandar saptak - lower octave) Sa Ga Ma (tivar - sharp) Pa
Purbi Ang: Ni (mandar saptak - lower octave) Ra (komal - flat) Ga Ma (tivar - sharp) Pa

Scholars of music have accepted both these methods of initiating Rag 'Gauri' as correct. In the aroh of this rag, the note ‘Pa’ is not forbidden. But usually, while approaching the note ‘Sa,’ it is avoided. The note combination of Dipak Ang, ‘Pa’ ‘Ga’ ‘Re’ (komal - flat) ‘Sa’ is mandatorily used in this rag.

Description of Rag
That: Purbi Kalian
Svar (notes): Re flat (komal) Ma sharp (tivar), rest all notes normal (shudh)
Jati: vakar - sampuran
Vadi: Sa
Samvadi: Pa
Aroh (ascending scale): Sa Ga Ma (tivar - sharp) Pa, Ma (tivar - sharp) Dha Ni Sa (tar saptak - upper octave) Re (tar saptak komal - upper octave flat) Sa (tar saptak - upper octave)
Avroh (descending scale): Sa (tar saptak - upper octave) Ni Dha Pa, Dha Pa Ma (tivar - sharp) Ga Sa, Re (komal - flat) Ga Re (komal - flat) Sa Ni (mandar saptak - lower octave) Sa
Pakar/Mukh Ang (Main Part): Dha Pa Ma (tivar - sharp) Ga Sa, Re (komal - flat) Ga Re (komal - flat) Sa Ni (mandar saptak - lower octave), Sa

Singing time
First quarter of the night.

Sabad 2
Rag Asa
In Gurmat Sangit, Rag Asa has a lot of importance. The melodious notes of Rag Asa can be heard everywhere in the sacred land of Panjab. Every morning, the golden rays of dawn stream down together with the sweet melody of ‘Asa Ki Var.’ When the redness of every evening gradually begins to be absorbed in the lap of nature, the melodious notes of this rag sing the praises of 'So Daru.’

Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Asa (a musical mode), occupies the fourth place sequentially. Under this rag, compositions have been recorded from page 347 to 488 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes 170 Sabads by Guru Nanak Sahib, 48 Sabads by Guru Amardas Sahib, 30 Sabads by Guru Ramdas Sahib, 188 Sabads by Guru Arjan Sahib, 1 Sabad by Guru Teghbahadar Sahib, 37 Sabads by Bhagat Kabir, 5 Sabads by Bhagat Namdev, 6 Sabads by Bhagat Ravidas, and 2 Sabads each by Bhagat Dhanna, and Baba Farid.

There are many prevalent forms of Rag Asa. In olden times, Ragis (professional singers of Sabads from the Guru Granth Sahib) used to sing this rag in various ang (styles). Like pahari ang (style or variation), bilaval ang, kalian ang and many others.

Rag Asa does not fall in the category of commonly sung rags of Hindustani music. There is not much information available about this rag in Indian musicological texts. Another rag similar to this is Rag ‘Mand.’ Even though the same notes are used in both Rag Asa and Rag Mand, they are very different from each other in their usage (singing style).

This rag is devotional in nature. Darbari Ragi (court musician) and poet of the state of Patiala, Master Bhai Prem Singh writes in ‘Ratan Sangeet Bhandar’ that Rag Asa is obtained from a combination of Sirirag, Rag Megh and Rag Maru. This rag falls in the category of sandhi-prakash rags, which is sung and played during mornings and evenings. This is an utrang vadi rag.

Rag Asa is Panjab’s famous and melodious rag. Long before Guru Nanak Sahib’s time, the famous ‘Tunde Asraje Di Var’ was also sung in this rag. The Bani of the Bhagat contributors of the Guru Granth Sahib who predate Guru Nanak Sahib was also in this rag, which establishes the fact that this rag was prevalent even before Guru Nanak Sahib’s arrival. Folk tales, songs, stories and melodies sung in this rag have been extremely enchanting. Due to its special features, this rag, other than in traditional kirtan, is also famous in folk music, semi classical music and film music.

Sri Vimalkant Rai Chaudhary has given two forms of Rag Asha in Hindustani music. In one form, notes Re Ga Dha Ni are flat (komal) and in the other form Ni is flat (komal) and jati is given as aurav-sharav. This second form of Rag Asa is closer to the Rag Asa prevalent in Gurmat Sangit. Which is as follows:

Description of Rag Asa
That: bilaval
Svar (notes): all normal (shudh)
Varjit Svar (forbidden notes): Ga and Ni in aroh (ascending scale)
Jati: aurav - sampuran
Vadi: madhyam
Samvadi: shadaj (tar saptak - upper octave)
Aroh (ascending scale): Sa, Re Ma, Pa Dha, Sa (tar saptak - upper octave)
Avroh (descending scale): Sa (tar saptak - upper octave) Ni, Dha Pa Ma, Ga Re Ga Sa
Mukh Ang/Pakar (Main Part): Re Ma, Pa, Dha Sa (tar saptak - upper octave ), Ni Dha Pa Ma, Ga Sa Re Ga Sa

Singing Time
First quarter of the day and the evening.

Sabad 3
Rag Dhanasari
This Sabad, under the title ‘Arti,’ has been uttered by Guru Nanak Sahib in Rag Dhanasari. ‘Dhanasari’ is a melodious rag of the Indian musical tradition, originating from the northern region of modern India, and it is mentioned as a prominent rag in Classical Music. In ancient musical 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.

Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag Dhanasari has been designated the tenth place in the sequence. Five Gurus and seven Bhagats have uttered compositions in this rag in the Guru Granth Sahib, recorded from pages ranging from 660 through 695. Among them, Guru Nanak Sahib and Guru Ramdas Sahib have uttered fourteen Sabads each, Guru Amardas Sahib has uttered nine, Guru Arjan Sahib sixty, Guru Teghbahadar Sahib four, Bhagat Kabir and Bhagat Namdev five each, Bhagat Ravidas three and Bhagat Trilocan, Bhagat Pipa, Bhagat Dhanna, and Bhagat Sain have uttered one Sabad each.

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 complete ragini of ‘kafi that.’ In this verse of the Guru Granth Sahib as well, Dhanasari has been mentioned as a ragini: dhanāsarī dhanvantī jāṇīai bh āī 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 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.

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 Indian musical texts, there was a tradition of calling and writing the rag-raginis as ‘rag.’ Only when a raga was interpreted was it described as a rag/ragini.

According to Bhai Avtar Singh Dhanasari is sung in four different ways: kafi ang, 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.

Indian Music experts have mentioned three different forms of Dhanasari. Raghunath Talegavakar and Acharya Krishan Narayan Ratanjanakar have mentioned ‘kafi that,’ Pandit Bhatkhande and Pandit Ram Krishan Vyas have mentioned bhairavi that, and Vimalkant Rai Chaudhary has mentioned kafi and bhairavi that in addition to another ‘that.’

Some old artists of Indian 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 ‘that kafi’ and ‘bhairavi,’ of which the Dhanasari of ‘that kafi’ is more popular.

According to Prof. Kartar Singh,scholars have mostly described the following form of Rag Dhanasari that has originated from ‘that kafi’:

Description of Rag Dhanasari
That: kafi
Svar (notes): Ga and Ni are flat (komal), rest all notes are normal (shudh)
Varjit Svar (forbidden notes): Ri and Dha in aroh (ascending scale)
Jati: aurav-sampuran
Vadi: pancham
Samvadi: shadaj
Aroh (ascending scale): Sa Ga (komal - flat), Ma Pa, Ni (komal - flat) Sa (tar sa
ptak - 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.

Sabad 4
Rag Gauri
Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag ‘Gauri’ (a musical mode) has been designated the third place in the sequence. Under this rag, compositions of five Gurus and three Bhagats have been recorded from page 151 to 346 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes 40 Sabads of Guru Nanak Sahib, 39 Sabads of Guru Amardas Sahib, 115 Sabads of Guru Ramdas Sahib, 462 Sabads of Guru Arjan Sahib and 9 Sabads of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib. Among the Bhagats there are 143 Sabads recorded of Bhagat Kabir, 1 Sabad of Bhagat Namdev and 5 Sabads of Bhagat Ravidas.

Rag Gauri is an ancient and famous rag. In the old Indian musicological texts, it is also found written as Gori, Gavri, Gauri, Gaurhi, etc. Rag Gauri has an important place even in the Gurmat Sangit. Guru Arjan Sahib has mentioned this rag in his Bani also: gaüṛī rāgi sulakhaṇī je khasmai citi karei. bhāṇai calai satigurū kai aisā sīgāru karei. -Guru Granth Sahib, page 311.

In the Guru Granth Sahib there are eleven recorded forms of Rag ‘Gauri’: Gauri Guareri, Gauri Dakhani, Gauri Bairagan, Gauri Cheti, Gauri Dipki, Gauri Purbi, Gauri Purbi Dipki, Gauri Majh, Gauri Malwa, Gauri Mala and Gauri Sorath.

Rag Gauri Purbi
Under this form (Gauri Purbi) of Rag Gauri, compositions of four Gurus and two Bhagats have been recorded. It includes two Sabads of Guru Nanak Sahib, five Sabads of Guru Amardas Sahib, fourteen Sabads of Guru Ramdas Sahib, and twenty-three Sabads of Guru Arjan Sahib. From the Bhagats, twenty-three Sabads of Bhagat Kabir and one Sabad of Bhagat Ravidas are included.

No mention of Rag Gauri Purbi/Purvi is found in the old musicological texts. Musicologists of the medieval era have also made no mention of this rag in their musicological texts. But in the Hindustani Music tradition, both the Rags, Gauri, and Purvi are prevalent as separate forms. From this perspective, it is believed that this rag is a mixed form of Rag Gauri and Rag Purvi. Skilled singers and musicians use special harmonies of these two rags in such a way that a distinct form of Rag Gauri Purbi shines. It is also worth mentioning here that this rag is only in use in Gurmat Sangit.

The rendering/elaboration of this rag stays in the madh saptak (middle octave) and tar saptak (upper octave). According to Dr. Gurnam Singh, this rag is created by the prevalence of Gauri in purvang and Purbi in utrang .

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

Singing Time
The first quarter of the evening.

Sabad 5
Rag Gauri
Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Rag ‘Gauri’ (a musical mode) has been designated the third place in the sequence. Under this rag, compositions of five Gurus and three Bhagats have been recorded from page 151 to 346 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes 40 Sabads of Guru Nanak Sahib, 39 Sabads of Guru Amardas Sahib, 115 Sabads of Guru Ramdas Sahib, 462 Sabads of Guru Arjan Sahib and 9 Sabads of Guru Teghbahadar Sahib. Among the Bhagats there are 143 Sabads recorded of Bhagat Kabir, 1 Sabad of Bhagat Namdev and 5 Sabads of Bhagat Ravidas.

Rag Gauri is an ancient and famous rag. In the old Indian musicological texts, it is also found written as Gori, Gavri, Gauri, Gaurhi, etc. Rag Gauri has an important place even in the Gurmat Sangit. Guru Arjan Sahib has mentioned this rag in his Bani also: gaüṛī rāgi sulakhaṇī je khasmai citi karei. bhāṇai calai satigurū kai aisā sīgāru karei. -Guru Granth Sahib, page 311.

In the Guru Granth Sahib there are eleven recorded forms of Rag ‘Gauri’: Gauri Guareri, Gauri Dakhani, Gauri Bairagan, Gauri Cheti, Gauri Dipki, Gauri Purbi, Gauri Purbi Dipki, Gauri Majh, Gauri Malwa, Gauri Mala and Gauri Sorath.

Rag Gauri Purbi
Under this form (Gauri Purbi) of Rag Gauri, compositions of four Gurus and two Bhagats have been recorded. It includes two Sabads of Guru Nanak Sahib, five Sabads of Guru Amardas Sahib, fourteen Sabads of Guru Ramdas Sahib, and twenty-three Sabads of Guru Arjan Sahib. From the Bhagats, twenty-three Sabads of Bhagat Kabir and one Sabad of Bhagat Ravidas are included.

No mention of Rag Gauri Purbi/Purvi is found in the old musicological texts. Musicologists of the medieval era have also made no mention of this rag in their musicological texts. But in the Hindustani Music tradition, both the Rags, Gauri, and Purvi are prevalent as separate forms. From this perspective, it is believed that this rag is a mixed form of Rag Gauri and Rag Purvi. Skilled singers and musicians use special harmonies of these two rags in such a way that a distinct form of Rag Gauri Purbi shines. It is also worth mentioning here that this rag is only in use in Gurmat Sangit.

The rendering/elaboration of this rag stays in the madh saptak (middle octave) and tar saptak (upper octave). According to Dr. Gurnam Singh, this rag is created by the prevalence of Gauri in purvang and Purbi in utrang .

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

Singing Time
The first quarter of the evening.