Ragas and Raginis in Gurbani - are they compatible?

[Niranjana]

Veer Shaheediyan, as you are close to Raj Academy and Professor Surinder Singh, please could you help with the following.

During his initial research and presentations (now widely available), some of the interesting points that Surinder Singh had raised related to aspects such as the terminology of “Ghar†in Gurbani, commonly taught as relating to a time cycle, however as Professor Singh explained it, actually relates to shrutis (the key point being made using a shabd in Partaal and with only one Ghar indicated, hence a misnomer by the standard understanding of Ghar).

From personal conversations with Professor Surinder Singh a few years back, he explained aside from the wider issue of non-raga based Kirtan, there also exists many misunderstandings of the raga structure and use within Gurbani owing to earlier texts written typically around early parts of the 20th century based largely on the personal rationale of the respective authors which have since become standardised and not developed as the wider decline of raga kirtan took over.

Other items include his refutation of the ‘time of day’ theory concerning Ragas (I think you've already posted a detailed thread on this topic) and incompatibility of common Raga and Ragini theories to the Gurbani ragas – on the latter subject, I would like to understand a little more from the standpoint of Professor Surinder Singh’s research the implications for the index at the end of the Guru Granth Sahib known as Ragamala. Most research to date on the subject (whether positive or negative) has typically come from non-musicians; it would be good to learn of this from the perspective of what is now termed “Gurmat Sangeetâ€.

Please could you help out.

Thanks,

Niranjana.