Article: Songs of devotion

Bhaktāmara-stotra opening
Image by British Library © CC0 1.0 (Creative Commons Public Domain)

Several other words have often been translated as ‘hymns’ and, confusingly, each of these terms has been used differently among Jains. Though sometimes used instead of stavan, these other genres now refer chiefly to recitations rather than sung hymns.

Sajjhāys are narrative devotional poems recited or sung as part of the rite of confession or as a form of devotional study.

A stotra is a prayer to be recited, not sung. There are certain stotra that are widely read and recited, most notably the Bhaktāmara-stotra.

A stuti is an old prayer usually in Prakrit or Apabhraṁśa, which can be chanted or recited.

A sutra or verse is usually a ‘fixed’ text, which the reciter cannot change. Examples include the Kalpa-sūtra and the Khamāsamāṇo-sūtra, which are often recited from memory.

Digambara sculpture of Candraprabha
Image by Gift of Sir Michael Sadler K.C.S.I., C.B. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Jain hymns are written in every language that Jains have used. The bulk of medieval and modern hymns performed today are written in Gujarāti and Hindi, including dialects of Hindi such as Mārvāḍī. There are also substantial numbers of hymns written in Marathi and Kannada. The older hymn genres include hymns written in Prakrit, Sanskrit and Tamil.

Jain hymns are heavily influenced by Sanskritic conventions of verse. Their poetics draw on two major traditions within Sanskrit poetics – rasa and alaṅkār. Rasa poetics is a theory of mood focusing on a poem’s creation of mood. The most significant one in Jain religious songs is the rasa of peace or calmness. The alaṅkār, or ornament, devices include both metaphors and the music of the poetry.

Jain religious songs most frequently follow the pada verse form. Although this form is associated with the bhakti devotional movement in Hinduism, Jain writers adopted pada for their own religion.

Inherited as part of pada poetry, the moraic metre is generally used in Jain hymns. This musical metre counts the lines of the song in one of two methods. Either the heavy and light beats can be counted, or the stressed and unstressed beats in the rhythm of the language.

Lay people worship a Jina
Image by Sheetal Shah © Sheetal Shah

Writers of Jain hymns try to conjure up a feeling to heighten the devotional sentiments of their work. A hymn’s rasa – creation of mood – usually aims to arouse certain emotions in the subject of the song. However, Jain hymns do not hope to evoke any feelings in the Jinas who are their subject. Jinas are detached from earthly concerns and thus do not feel moods. Clearly, therefore, the poetry of Jain devotional songs is intended to create sentiments in the singers and listeners.

There are eight rasas outlined in Bharata’s Nāṭyaśāstra:

• love – śṛṅgāra
• humour – hāsya
• pity or compassion – kāruṇa
• anger – raudra
• heroism – vīra
• terror – bhayānaka
• disgust – bībhatsa
• wonder – adbhuta.

Udbhaṭa was a rasa theory author of the early ninth century who added the ninth rasa of calm or peace – śānta. This became the mood that many hymn poetics aim to create. While there are devotional hymn lyrics that seem designed to achieve the rasa of love or the rasa of compassion, most hymns employ the rasa of peace.

Therefore the singer and listeners might hope to attain calmness through the use of śāntarās or the sentiment of peace in the hymn. This would help them meditate, a duty for all Jains and a vital part of spiritual progress.

Rās-garbā dance
Image by Hardik jadeja © CC BY 3.0

Jain hymns are part of the bhakti devotional poetry movement of India and share its central formal aspects. Jains use the pada form for most of their hymns.

The pada usually have four to seven rhyming couplets and use the first or second line of the whole poem as a refrain throughout. Following Jayadeva and the South Indian bhakti poetry style which influenced Jayadeva, padas usually have the poet’s name in the last line. However, many of the newer religious songs do not include the poet’s name at the end.

Garbā poetry, which accompanies garbā dance at Navrātrī, is also in pada form.

The popular hymns performed in Digambara temples called Darśan Paths are also in the pada form. This shows how both major Jain sects have adopted this popular religious poetic form.

Playing the tabla
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The instrumentation and melodies used for Jain hymns reflect both their roots as a western Indian music tradition and the context in which they are performed.

The musical instruments used to perform Jain hymns vary according to the singers. Although soloists sing without musical accompaniment, choirs generally play several percussion instruments. The sex of the singers also influences the choice of musical instruments and the type of performance. Female choirs tend to use simpler, more traditional instruments, including finger-snapping, to lead religious ceremonies. Male singing groups are more likely to play a variety of instruments, including modern ones, in more complex arrangements in front of audiences.

Jain hymns are musically part of the folk genres found in devotional music and wedding songs, though there are occasional links to the more formal rāga practice. The melodies are based on folk music traditional in western India although contemporary Bollywood influences may also be detected. Some traditional pieces of music are thought of as specifically Jain melodies and remain popular as aids to meditation. The style of singing Jain devotional songs also draws heavily on the folk music of Gujarāt and Rajasthan.

A śenāī
Image by Badagnani © CC BY 3.0

The instrumentation of the hymns differs in solo and group performances. A solo singer in a temple always sings unaccompanied, whereas group singing is accompanied by a variety of percussive instruments. Hymn recordings include instrumentation like that of popular Gujarātī folk music. This is characterised by voice and percussion with ‘touches’ of harmonium or the double-reed wind instrument, the śenāī. Singers in recordings of devotional songs are usually soloists.

Women’s choirs often have one woman playing a steady beat on a double-headed drum, usually a dholak, while the others sing. The singers mark more complex rhythms with sticks, finger-snapping and clapping, hand cymbals or tambourines. They do not use any melodic instruments or drones. Women’s singing groups mostly perform liturgical worship rites, which serve chiefly as a form of offering in temple ceremonies.

Men’s singing groups sometimes add a melodic instrument, usually the harmonium or electric organ. They may use tabla rather than a double-headed barrel drum, and mainly use hand cymbals as their hand percussion. Men’s groups do not perform the seated percussion dance that women’s singing groups do. In general, men’s choirs are geared towards audience-focused performances. This difference in focus is illustrated by more elaborate instrumentation employing a harmonium, several drummers at once and a synthesiser. They also frequently use amplification and feature instrumental solos designed to show off virtuosity.

Women perform the rās-garbā
Image by calliopejen © CC BY-SA 3.0

The melodies of Jain hymns draw primarily on the folk music of western India. This includes wedding songs, devotional music from gazals to garbā and popular Bollywood film music.

While the formal worship liturgies name rāgas for the different sections, published hymns were never listed with rāgas. Rather than giving rāgas for the hymns, their melodies were given the names of earlier hymns or folk songs in hymn books. Playing several instruments and employing specific classical rāgas needs training in classical Indian music. The majority of Jain singing, however, is based on folk music with which most Jains are familiar.

The musicality of the hymns developed largely from the group-singing customs of Gujarāti rās-garbā and Rājasthāni folk-music styles. Most of the time the hymns are given tarj, or melody, designations from Gujarāti folk music or Bollywood film music. Hymns, as well as sections of the formal worship formulas, are often performed to popular rās-garbā melodies. Since the singers often know many of the melodies by heart, it is relatively easy to sing new words to them. These tunes also lend themselves to dancing and celebratory mood, making them popular for group performances.

There are certain pieces of music that are considered to be pure hymns or Jain melodies. For example, the hymn Look at Śrī Pārśva is said to be sung to a ‘pure Jain’ melody. The name of this hymn is used when naming the melody to use for other hymns that share the same melody. Many of these are associated with older religious songs, though occasionally a new hymn is based on a traditional Jain melody. These are especially common for solo singing during personal worship. For example, Śrī Śankheśvar Pārśvanāth-stavan is often sung as a solo hymn in personal worship and represents the most popular style of solo singing in practice, genre and timbre. They are also some of the more difficult melodies Jains sing. The hymns’ slow but clear musical movement and flexible line length are thought to encourage introspection and meditation.

Praying in the temple
Image by nusohotrightnow – Nathaniel Whittemore © CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Jains have a long history of hymn-writing and hymn-singing. Singing the praises of the Jinas is a key element of worship and forms a crucial part of most religious ceremonies.

Jains regularly sing hymns both solo and in groups, depending on the ritual. In temple rites, groups of singers may perform the sung parts of the ceremony or lead the congregation in a communal hymn. For example, Śankheśvar Dādā is a popular choice of a hymn to sing as a group during Jain liturgical worship. The choirs are usually single sex, their duties differing according to the sex of the members.

Devotional songs are sung at nearly all Jain rites that take place in public, such as renunciation of the householder life. The singers may be family members of the new monk or nun, professional singers or all the worshippers. In private homes, hymns are frequently sung in celebration, generally led by a single singer.

Other hymns are sung only on particular occasions. An example would be the mendicant welcome songs that lay Jains perform to honour ascetics before offering them alms.

Women singing hymns
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Jain religious songs are performed routinely as part of the morning worship. The liturgy of the morning worship includes a particular point at which the worshipper is expected to sing a hymn. This is usually sung solo but if a number of Jains performs the daily worship together, they will sing as a group.

As well as the daily prayer ritual, there are other liturgies, such as the Śvetāmbara Snātra Pūjā and Digambara Deva Śāstra Guru Pūjā, in which hymns have a central role. Additional devotional songs are usually also played. These ceremonies are usually communal, with the whole congregation singing hymns. In the sect of the Śvetāmbaras women’s singing groups are also hired to take part in these rituals on behalf of the sponsors.

Many Jain congregations have hymn-singing groups for either men or women. Some larger congregations have both men’s and women’s choirs. These groups sing hymns as a devotional act in a set schedule, but may also be available for hire for celebrations and to perform religious ceremonies. During the evening celebrations the choirs sing hymns but they also may perform veil songs – cunḍaḍī gīt.

On the whole, men’s choirs tend to perform devotional singing for evening celebrations and women’s groups are more likely to take part in the sung liturgies. The musicality of these two groups reflects these different practices. The men’s groups may make more use of amplification and electronic instruments while women’s choirs more usually perform a form of seated percussion dance with similarities to the Gujarāti folk dance genre, garba. Female choirs’ performances tend to be more associated with liturgical ceremonies.

Completing a fast
Image by Chandu Shah © Chandu Shah

Some domestic Jain rituals are marked by singing religious songs. These may be specifically Jain rites, such as marking the breaking of a fast, or more broadly auspicious ceremonies, such as the birthday of a more senior relative. In these domestic liturgies, a solo singer leads the hymns and the rest of those present who know the songs join the singing in a call-and-response pattern.

Fast-breaking ceremonies may include performances by an established choir, a group of friends and relatives and individual singers. At these ceremonies fasting songs – tapasya gīt – celebrate the faster’s austerities and virtues. During difficult fasts, these may be sung in the faster’s home in order to support his or her efforts and promote a religious environment to make the fasting easier.

Celebrating initiation
Image by Jayesh Gudka © Jayesh Gudka

Some types of hymns are performed in particular ritual contexts. For example, lay Jains sing mendicant welcome songs – sādhu swāgatam gīt or gahuli gīt – on three specific occasions. Firstly, the hymns salute mendicants when they join a congregation for the rainy season retreat. Secondly, the hymns are sung to honour ascetics before they give a sermon. Thirdly, householder Jains perform these songs before offering food to a mendicant.

Auction songs – boli gīt – are performed during ritual auctions. These take place during Jain festivals and public ceremonies, particularly the festival of Paryuṣaṇ. Ritual auctions are also part of the ceremonies surrounding the renunciation of a new monk or nun.