Kirtan dance
One important promoter of Vaishnava kirtan in Bengal was Chandidas (1339–1399), who introduced Vaishnava kirtan in Bengali and was very influential on later Vaishnava northern kirtan.[1] Chandidas was instrumental in the Bengali Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā tradition, a form of tantric Vaishnavism focused on Radha and Krishna which flourished in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, and Assam.[2][3] The Vaiṣṇava Sahajiyā tradition produced many great Bengali language poets and singers.[4][3]
The 16th century CE saw an explosion of Vaishnava kirtan in the north. During this time, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu popularized Krishna based kirtan in Bengal, promoting and teaching the singing of Vaishnava songs which celebrate the love between Radha and Krishna, understood as being the love between the soul and God.[5][1] Chaitanya is also known as the father of padavali singing, a highly developed and complex musical tradition.[1]
About the same time, Shankaradeva (1449–1568) in Assam inspired the Ekasarana Dharma bhakti movement that emphasized Advaita Vedanta philosophy within the Vaishnava framework of the Bhagavata Purana.[6] Shankaradeva helped establish Sattras (Hindu temples and monasteries) with kirtan-ghar (also called Namghar), for Krishnaite singing and dramatic performance.[7]
Meanwhile, in the Braj region, Vallabha acharya launched a devotional movement which focused on kirtan songs about baby Krishna and his early childhood.[5] One ofshoot of this tradition is the Radha-centered Radha-vallabha Sampradaya, whose singing style known as Haveli Sangeet is based on Hindustani classical forms like "dhrupad" and "dhamar".[8] Another kirtan style shared by the Braj traditions like the Vallabha, Haridasi, and Nimbarka is samaj gayan, which is a kind of collective singing.[9]
Kirtan as a genre of religious music has been a major part of the Vaishnavism tradition, particularly starting with the Alvars of Sri Vaishnavism sub-tradition between the 7th to 10th century CE.[10] After the 13th-century, two subgenres of kirtan emerged in Vaishnavism, namely the Nama-kirtana wherein the different names or aspects of god (a Vishnu avatar) are extolled, and the Lila- kirtana wherein the deity's life and legends are narrated.[11]
In the modern era, north Indian styles of kirtan are widely practiced in the modernist movements of Swami Sivananda, Anandamayi Ma, Sri Aurobindo, and A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.[12]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:0 - ↑ Young, Mary (2014). The Baul Tradition: Sahaj Vision East and West, pp. 27-30. SCB Distributors.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Hayes, Glen A. "The Vaisnava Sahajiya Traditions of Medieval Bengal", in Religions of India in Practice, edited by Donald S. Lopez, Jr., Princeton Readings in Religions, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995: 333-351.
- ↑ Young, Mary (2014). The Baul Tradition: Sahaj Vision East and West, pp. 27-36. SCB Distributors.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Catherine B. Asher; Cynthia Talbot (2006). India before Europe. Cambridge University Press. pp. 110–112, 148–149. ISBN 978-1-139-91561-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Kaliram Medhi (1978). Studies in the Vaiṣṇava Literature & Culture of Assam. Assam Sahitya Sabha. pp. 6, 43. Search this book on
- ↑ Ronald M. Bernier (1997). Himalayan Architecture. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. pp. 27–28. ISBN 978-0-8386-3602-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Beck, Guy L. (2005). "Krishna as Loving Husband of God: The Alternative Krishnology of the Rādhāvallabha Sampradaya". In Guy L. Beck. Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity. Albany, NY: SUNY Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-7914-6415-1. Search this book on
- ↑ Arnold et al (1998). The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music: South Asia : the Indian subcontinent, p. 251. Taylor & Francis.
- ↑ John A. Ramsaran (1973). English and Hindi Religious Poetry: An Analogical Study. BRILL Academic. pp. 3–4. ISBN 90-04-03648-2. Search this book on
- ↑ Emmie te Nijenhuis; Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita; Sanjukta Gupta (1987). Sacred songs of India. Amadeus. pp. 5–6. ISBN 978-3-905049-36-7. Search this book on
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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