Pahare

Rag Siri
Out of the thirty-one principal rags in the Guru Granth Sahib, Sirirag or Srirag has been designated first place in the sequence. Under this rag, the Bani of five Gurus and four Bhagats is recorded from pages 14 to 93 of the Guru Granth Sahib. It includes sixty Sabads by Guru Nanak Sahib, two by Guru Angad Sahib, seventy-two by Guru Amardas Sahib, thirty-five by Guru Ramdas Sahib, forty-two by Guru Arjan Sahib, two by Bhagat Kabir, and one each by Bhagat Tirlochan, Bhagat Beni, and Bhagat Ravidas.   

Sirirag is an old, melodious, and complex rag. Regarding this rag, Guru Amardas Sahib has said that Sirirag is the prominent rag among all the rags. But the singing of this rag is successful only when the being develops a love for the eternal IkOankar: rāgāṁ vici srī rāgu hai je saci dhare piāru. -Guru Granth Sahib 83. Bhai Gurdas also considers this rag to be supreme: panchīan mai hans mrig rājan mai sārdūl rāgan me sirīrāgu pāras pakhān hai. -Bhai Gurdas, Kabit 376/3.

Apart from the Gurmati tradition, various schools of thought that follow the rag-ragini tradition have also considered Sirirag a significant rag. From a popular mythological perspective, Pandit Oankar Nath Thakur writes, “this is the sixth rag and is named as ‘Siri’ as it is believed to have come from the ‘supreme/glorious’ (sri) mouth of Parvati; the other five rags having originated from the five mouths of Shankar (Shiva).” It is difficult to validate what is true in this mythological perspective, but it can surely be said that it is an old rag.

Prof. Tara Singh’s belief regarding the placing of this rag at the first position in the sequence of rags of the Guru Granth Sahib is that Guru Arjan Sahib didn’t ignore the classical tradition of Hindustani music. At the time of the compilation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the Guru gave first place to Sirirag, which originated from the natural or normal-notes octave of music.

In the Medieval Period, flat (komal) Ga and Ni were used in natural-notes octaves of the rag, which is similar to today’s Kafi that. Earlier, Sirirag was also sung on the notes Kafi that. Even today, the same form of the rag from Kafi that in the North Indian style is prevalent in the Southern music system, which they called ‘Kharhar Pria.’

Proponents of the modern that system have classified Sirirag under Purvi that. From a musical perspective, in this rag, Re, Dha are flat (komal), Ma is sharp (tivar) and other notes are normal (shudh). In its ascending scale (aroh), there is a practice of forbidding the notes Ga and Dha. In its descending scale (avroh), seven notes are used in the arc style (vakar rit). Consequently, its jati (class) is aurav-vakar sampuran. Its vadi note is Re and samvadi note is Pa. Some scholars consider its vadi note to be Re and samvadi note Dha.

Bhai Vir Singh has considered Srirag to be a pure and refined rag in Gurmati Sangit. Bhai Avtar Singh and Gurcharan Singh, and Sant Sarwan Singh Gandharv and Dr. Gurnam Singh have described two different forms of Sirirag, Purvi that and Kafi that, whereas S. Gian Singh Abbottabad, Prof. Tara Singh, Rag Nirnayak Committee, etc. have depicted its form as that of Purvi that. The same form is given below. 

Description of Sirirag
Rag: Siri
That: Purvi.
Svar (notes): Re, Dha are flat (komal), Ma (tivar - sharp), rest all notes are normal/natural (shudh).   
Varjit Svar (forbidden notes): Ga and Dha in ascending scale (aroh).
Jati (class): aurav-sampuran.
Vadi (prominent note): Re.
Samvadi (sub-prominent note): Pa.
Aroh (ascending scale): Sa Re (komal - flat), Ma (tivar - sharp) Pa, Ni Sa (tar saptak - upper octave).
Avroh (descending scale): Sa (tar saptak - upper octave) Ni Dha (komal - flat) Pa, Ma (tivar - sharp), Ga, Re (komal - flat), Sa.
Mukh Ang/Pakar (Main part): Sa, Re (komal - flat), Re (komal - flat), Pa, Pa Ma (tivar - sharp) Ga Re (komal - flat), Re (komal - flat) Sa.

Singing Time
Dusk time. 


Ghar
In the Guru Granth Sahib, along with the titles of rags, seventeen ‘ghar’ are found to be recorded. According to ‘Shabdarth Sri Guru Granth Sahib’ ‘ghar’ locates the position of the beat/rhythm or notes in a melody.

Bhai Kahn Singh Nabha is of the view that, “As per the Sikh music ‘ghar’ has two meanings: One is rhythm or beat, and the other is the different forms of singing a rag’s current elaborations (expansions) because of the difference in the notes and their relative position in an octave. In the Guru Granth Sahib, there are seventeen ‘ghar’ ranging from 1 to 17. Through this, the singer has been instructed to sing a Sabad as per a specific number of elaborations of notes.

In Iranian music, the word ‘gah,’ which is similar to ‘ghar,’ also means a place or home. In the Iranian rhythm technique, different forms of rhythm are recognized as one gah, two gah, etc., which are an indicator of beat. The seventeen rhythms, which have been established by Amir Khusrau, also resemble the rhythms identified in Hindustani music.

Numerics written with ‘ghar’ is from 1 to 17, such as: ghar 1, ghar 2... ghar 17, etc. As indicators of ‘ghar,’ these numbers are numerical adjectives. They are pronounced pahilā, dūjā, tījā, caüthā, panjavāṁ, nāvāṁ, satārhvāṁ, etc., respectively. But at some places, information about ‘ghar’ is also given through special notes such as:
(a) eku suānu kai ghari gāvaṇā (Guru Granth Sahib 91)
(b) yānaṛīe kai ghari gāvaṇā (Guru Granth Sahib 802)
(c) pahiriā kai ghari gāvaṇā (Guru Granth Sahib 93)
(d) rahoe ke chant ke ghari (Guru Granth Sahib 203)