Articles
Eighteen pieces built from two Punjabi defences of Raagmala: Sant Tehal Singh's Gur Gira (1908) and Dr Balbir Singh's Ragmala Da Swal (1945 to 1969). Every footnote links to the page of the scanned book it cites, so you can check the source yourself.
The series · Part 1 of 5
At the end of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Raagmala brings the reader into a world of musical families. Raags appear with their raginis and sons; names follow names in a compact, patterned composition. For someone...
The series · Part 2 of 5
Some of the most influential objections to Raagmala begin with very small features: a missing authorial heading, the absence of the name Nanak, an unfamiliar musical term, or the position of a composition after...
The series · Part 3 of 5
When closely related passages appear in two works, their resemblance can seem to tell a complete story. One author must have borrowed from the other. Establish which work came first, and the direction appears settled.
The series · Part 4 of 5
A claim that a composition was added to scripture is a claim about something that happened to a text. At some point, according to that explanation, words absent from an earlier form entered a later one. Arguments...
The series · Part 5 of 5
The opening pages of Sant Tehal Singh’s defence of Raagmala contain something more personal than a list of arguments. They preserve declarations of approval, names of supporters, statements associated with religious...
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 1 of 6
For Sant Tehal Singh, the question of Raagmala was inseparable from a larger responsibility: how should Sikhs receive, preserve and read the scripture entrusted to them by the Gurus?
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 2 of 6
A missing signature. A musical passage found in another book. An old manuscript with a disputed ending. Each can sound decisive when presented alone.
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 3 of 6
One of the central claims challenged in Gur Gira Raagmala Mandan Prabodh is that Raagmala came from a literary work associated with a poet called Alam. On this account, a passage belonging to the...
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 4 of 6
What makes a composition recognisable as Gurbani? A heading? The name “Nanak”? Its position in an authorised manuscript? Or a combination of these features understood together?
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 5 of 6
Before Sant Tehal Singh begins his detailed answers about Raagmala, he places a community of readers before the reader of his own book.
Notes on Gur Gira · Note 6 of 6
Near the end of Gur Gira Raagmala Mandan Prabodh, Sant Tehal Singh moves from objections about language, authorship and musical classification to the manuscripts themselves.
Notes on Ragmala Da Swal · Note 1 of 5
A short composition can carry a debate far larger than its length. Raagmala, the concluding composition of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, brings together questions about music, manuscript history, literary borrowing and...
Notes on Ragmala Da Swal · Note 2 of 5
Raagmala presents musical names as a family. Six principal ragas stand at the centre of the arrangement, each accompanied by five raginis and eight sons. The reader encounters an ordered world of relationships rather...
Notes on Ragmala Da Swal · Note 3 of 5
A claim about a manuscript can travel much further than the person who first examined it. Once repeated in books, newspapers and public discussion, it can acquire the appearance of established fact. Recovering the...
Notes on Ragmala Da Swal · Note 4 of 5
A date written inside a book seems to offer a firm starting point. Yet if the book is a translation, the date may belong to the work being translated. If the translator has added material from elsewhere, different...
Notes on Ragmala Da Swal · Note 5 of 5
The strength of an argument depends partly on knowing what kind of argument it is. A statement about handwriting, an inference about literary borrowing and a conviction about the authority of scripture can support...
From the archive · 31 January 2017
Who wrote Raagmala, where it appears, and why the claims about the poets Jodh and Alam don't hold.
From the archive · 15 February 2017
The Raags come before Guru Arjan Dev Ji as the Aad Granth is compiled at Sri Ramsar Sahib. From SikhNet.
The two books themselves are embedded in full on the Literature page, with a download for each.