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Raga Siri was
favoured by the Hindus for religious occasions and is found in many of the old
treatises. In the Ragmala listed as a parent raga, it currently is a member of the puroi
thata. Still a popular concert raga today, it is considered one of the most famous from
among the North Indian classical system. Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, and
Guru Arjan composed to this raga. Traditionally performed at sunset, it is assigned to
the rainy season as well as the months of November and December. Its mood is one of
majesty combined with prayerful meditation. This raga is always referred to as "Siri
Raga" rather than placing the term raga before the name. It accompanies about 142
shabads.
Sri raga is one of the parent ragas from which
other ragas have been derived. The word Sri means supreme or exalted
and as such this raga powerful. Bhai Gurdas calls it a supreme raga, supreme like the
philosopher’s stone among other stones, because it has the power of converting
baser metals into gold. The gurus gave it the first place. This raga is sung in the
evening-a period of dusk and darkness. Man’s mind and his inner state as a mortal
is one of darkness-caused by maya-and ignorance of his spiritual potentialities. So from
darkness to light is the law of nature. In Sri raga, Guru Nanak has dealt with the
existing ignorance and superstition and the neglect of spiritual values on account of
man’s ego, greed and love of wordly pleasures:
“The foolish and greedy soul is attached to and lured by greed,
Being materialistic and evil-minded, the individual is not soaked in God’s Name
and continues coming and going” [4]. Some writers state that this raga is
associated either with extreme heat or extreme cold. In the hot season, we need water;
in the cold season, we need warmth and fire. As such, the Guru has referred to man’s
thirst for water and compared the soul to a fish’ and likened man’s passions
to a dreadful fire” [5]. Basically the Gurus have pinpointed in this
raga the longing of the individual soul for the Universal Soul.
Aroh : Sa Re M'a, Pa Ni Sa
Avroh : Sa Ni Dha, Pa M'a Ga Re Sa
Pakar : Sa, Re Re Pa, Pa M'a Ga Re, Re Re, Sa
Vadi : Re
Samvadi : Pa
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Introduction
According to an ancient school of Music the roots of the origin of raga 'Sri' is
god
Shiv, a god of Hindu trinity, who is also called by the name 'Sri'. The raga represents death
i.e.,
the beginning of a new life. 'Sri' is a complete raga of eastern thaht. The notes used are:
Arohi (ascending scale)- sa re ma pa ni sa (ga and dha are omitted)
Avrohi (descending scale)- sa ni dha pa ma ga re sa (all seven svars)
It is the first raga in Guru Granth Sahib and listed as fifth major raga in the
Ragamala (list of ragas) recorded at the end of Guru Granth Sahib. It is believed that there are
11
ragamalas available in the Indian Musical School composed by different authors and the ragamala
included in Guru Granth Sahib was composed by Guru Nanak Dev.
The raga is recommended to be sung at the third part of the day i.e., from 12 noon
to
3 p.m. The season of its recitation is winter (hement) i.e., during November and December.
In Guru Granth Sahib this raga has hymns from pages 14-93 (79
pages).
The Composers:
The composers of bani (hymns) in this raga are:
Gurus:
- Guru Nanak Dev
- Guru Angad
- Guru Amardas
- Guru Ramdas
- Guru Arjan Dev
Bhagats:
- Kabir
- Trilochan
- Beni
- Ravidas
The Structure:
The sequence of the structure of compositions in this raga are:
Guru bani:
- Shabads (2-6 padas)
- Shabads - Ashtpadis
- Specialist compositions (untitled)
- Specialist compositions, titled 'Pehre'
- Shabad - Chhant
- Specialist compositions titled 'Wanjara'
- Var
The word 'Shud' is written at the end of the var. For the explanation of this
comment
please refer to page.
Bhagatbani:
Matrix
VISUAL ANALYSIS
Count of the use of Managals:
Complete Mool Mantar - none
Ik-ongkar Satgur Prashad = 12 , on pages 14, 26,53, 64, 71, 74,78, 79, 80, 83, 91, 93
Ik-ongkar Satnam Gurprasad =1, page 81
Placement and count of rahau verse/s:
All shabads and ashtpadis have rahau/s in them, and where there is only one
rahau verse, it is placed after the first pada. One specialist composition titled Wanjara ' has 6
rahaus in it, whereas other specialist compositions titled 'Pehre' have no rahau verse/s in them
Diversified headings used in this raga:
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Page no.
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Heading
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Page no.
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Heading
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14
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Raga Srirag Mehla 1 Char 1
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79
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Sriraga Mehla 5 Chhant
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53
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Sriraga Mehla 1
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80
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Sriraga ke Chhant Mehla 5
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Composers Structure of Bani
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Padas
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Ashtpadis
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Specialist
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Chts
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Specialist
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Var
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Sloaks*
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Gurus
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2
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3
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4
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5
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6
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8 (padas)
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untiled
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Titled
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Nanak
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5
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25
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3
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17
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1 (24 pds)
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2 Pehres
i. 4 pds
ii. 5 pds
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4
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Angad
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2
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Amardas
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1
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26
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4
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8
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32
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Ramdas
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6
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One
Pehre
(4 pds)
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1
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Wanjara
(6 padas)
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1 (21
pauris)
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Arjan Dev
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30
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2
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1 (21 pds)
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One
Pehre
5pds
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1+
1***
=2
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5, titled
Dakhna
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Bhagats
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Kabir
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1
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1
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Trilochan
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1
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Beni
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1
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Ravidas
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1
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*All sloaks, except five sloaks (titled Dakhna) of Guru Arjan Dev are included in
the
var of Guru Ramdas. Please note that though the var is composed by Guru Ramdas but none of the
sloaks included in there are composed by him.
*pds = padas; *chts = chhants
***This chhant has 5 Sloaks (titled Dakhna, which is a Multani word meaning
Sloak),
and unlike many other chhants, each pada is also titled chhant. Readers please check that it is
one
chhant and not five chhants.
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Excerpts taken from:
Guru Granth Sahib: An Advance Study
Dr Sukhbir Singh Kapoor
Vice Chancellor World Sikh University, London
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