ABSTRACT
This chapter offers a nuanced introduction to śabad kīrtan, the singing practice of the Sikh scriptural hymns. Ranging from the rāga-based “solo” singing to the spontaneous group chanting, kīrtans also function as aural “modes of knowing,” experiencing, and celebrating the Word-as-Gurū. Kīrtan’s vocabulary, history, and diverse musical settings are here critically examined through a decolonial lens. Particular attention is given to contextualizing the Gurū Granth Sāhib’s rāgas and song-forms within pre-modern devotional literature, where they constitute a unit with the poetic compositions. Marginalized by Orientalist musicological scholarship, only recently the study of the Sikh musical literature and practices has been introduced at the institutional level, revealing far-reaching implications that challenge the dominant historical narrative of South Asian music.
