Gurbani Raag Gujri


The name "Gujari" probably refers to the state of Gujarat. This ragawas in existence at the time of Raja Man Singh of Gwahor (1486-1517) who lived at a time of high musical achievement and referred to this raga in his writings about music. Gujari is rarely used as a concert raga today and little is known about its form. In modern times it has been supplanted by Gujari-Todi. In the Ragmaala, Gujari is listed as a ragini of Raga Dipak. Today Gujari-Todi belongs to the Todi thala. GujariTodi may be performed during any season of the year and is assigned to the early morning hours. It produces a mood of thoughtfulness that reaches deep into the heart. Texts set to this raga strip away all subterfuge and make man see himself as he is and search within for the truth. While not one of the most frequently used ragas, Gujari was the setting for compositions by Guru Nanak, Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, and Guru Arjan.

Aroh : Sa Re _Ga M'a Dha Ni Sa

Avroh: Sa Ni Dha M'a Ga Re, Ga Re Sa

Pakar : Sa Dha, Ma, Dha Ni Sa, Ni Dha M'a Ga, Re, Ga Re Sa

Savar : Re Ga Dha M'a

Vadi :Dha

Samvadi : Re

Introduction

Raga Gujri is an old raga and is popular to sing devotional hymns. It is a very melodious raga. It has been given varied status by different schools of music. Some schools call it a consort of raga Bhairo while others call it a consort of raga Megh, still others call it a consort of raga Deepak and many call it a consort of raga Sri. According to Guru Granth Sahib's ragamala it is a consort of raga Deepak. In the Sikh encyclopaedia of Bhai Kahn Singh it has been linked with raga Todi. The Pastik School of Music has given 9 forms of this raga:

  • Maharashtra Gujri
  • Dakhni Gujri
  • Dravri Gujri
  • North Gujri
  • Saurashtra Gujri
  • Mangal Gujri
  • Ramkali Gujri
  • Bahula Gujri
  • Siam Gujri

The notes of this raga are:

Arohi (ascending scale) - sa re ga ma dha ni sa (omitted note is -pa)
Avrohi (descending scale) - sa ni dha ma ga re sa
The vadi (most popular) note is 'dha' and samvadi (second most popular) note is 'ra'

This raga is recommended to be sung at the fourth part of the day i.e., from 3pm - 6 p.m.. The season of its recitation is rainy (varsha) i.e., during July - August. In the Sikh tradition this raga is also sung in the second part of the day.

In Guru Granth Sahib hymns composed in this raga are on pages 489-526 (37pages).

The Composers:

The composers of bani (hymns) in this raga are:
Gurus:

  • Guru Nanak Dev
  • Guru Amardas
  • Guru Ramdas
  • Guru Arjan Dev

Bhagats:

  • Kabir
  • Namdev
  • Ravidas
  • Trilochan
  • Jaidev

The Structure:

The sequence of the structure of compositions in this raga are:

Gurubani:

  • Shabads 2-5padas
  • Shabads - Ashtpadi
  • Var

Bhagat bani

1. Shabads of 3-5 padas

Matrix

VISUAL ANALYSIS

Count of the use of Mangals:

Complete Mool Mantar = 1, pages 489 (start of the raga)
Ik-ongkar Satgur Prasadh = 23

Placement and count of the rahau verses:

All shabads, including Bhagat Bard, and ashtpadis have rahau verses in them placed after the first padas.

Analysis of diversified headings and subheadings used in this raga:

Page number

Heading/Subheading

489

Raga Gujri Mehla 1 chaupadas Ghar 1

494

Gujri Mehla 4 Ghar 3

501

Gujri Mehla 5 Ghar 4 chaupadas

503

Gujri Ashtpadis Mehla 1 Ghar 1

524

Raga Gujri Bhagat ki Bani

525

Gujri Namdev ji ke pada Ghar 1

525

Gujri Sri Trilochan jeo ke pada Ghar 1

Composers Structure of Bani

 

Padas

 

 

I

 

Ashtpadis

Specialist

 

Chts

Specialist

Var

Sloaks*

_

2

3

4

5

6

8 (padas)

untiled

Titled

 

 

 

 

Nanak

 

 

2

 

 

5

 

 

 

 

 

 

Angad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AmarDas

 

 

5

2

 

1 (10

padas)

 

 

 

 

1 (22

pauris)

44

RamDas

 

 

6

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arjan Dev

18

1

11

2

 

2

 

 

 

 

1(21

pauris)

42

Bhagats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kabir

 

 

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Namdev

 

1

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RaviDas

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trilochan

 

 

1

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jaidev

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no specialist bani and chhants in this raga.

sloaks are included in the vars. The sloaks included in the vars are of the same author • i the var. Comment 'Shud' is recorded at the end of both vars.

  • *pds = padas
  • *cht = chhants

Excerpts taken from:
Guru Granth Sahib: An Advance Study
Dr Sukhbir Singh Kapoor
Vice Chancellor World Sikh University, London