ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>GAJJ&#256 SI&#7748GH MAHANT (c. 1850-1914)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="GAJJ,SIDGH,MAHANT"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279GAJJ&#256 SI&#7748GH, MAHANT (c. 1850-1914), maestro of Sikh classical devotional music, was born in a Ja&#7789&#7789 Sikh family of V&#257ndar, a village in Far&#299dko&#7789 district of the Punjab. He had a sensitive ear for music from his early childhood. His father, a pious Sikh himself, apprenticed him for religious instruction to the <i>mahant</i> or custodian of Gur&#363sar (Mehr&#257j), a historical shrine about 25 km northeast of Ba&#7789hi&#7751&#7693&#257 (30º-14'N, 74º-59'E) . The <i>mahant</i> was impressed by the rapid progress Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh made in learning the scriptural and other texts and by his ability to sing the sacred hymns in the folk tunes he had picked up in his native village. He arranged, through the <i>mahant</i> of Gurdw&#257r&#257 Ber S&#257hib, Sult&#257npur Lodh&#299, to send young Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh to learn classical music under M&#299r Rahmat 'Al&#299, the eminent court musician of Kap&#363rthal&#257 state. One of his co-pupils was Mahb&#363b 'Al&#299 alias Bh&#257&#299 B&#363b&#257, a direct descendant of Bh&#257&#299 Phirand&#257 of Bharo&#257&#7751&#257, to whom Gur&#363 N&#257nak had, just before setting out on his travels, sent Bh&#257&#299 Mard&#257n&#257 to procure a <i>rab&#257b</i>, i.e. rebeck. Bh&#257&#299 B&#363b&#257 and his father, Bh&#257&#299 Am&#299r Ba<u>kh</u>sh Rab&#257b&#299, were widely respected among Sikhs as much for their honoured lineage as for their status in the <i>rab&#257b&#299</i> school of Sikh music. Association with them encouraged Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh to master, besides classical music, the traditional Sikh <i>k&#299rtan</i>. After finishing studies with M&#299r Rahmat 'Al&#299, Bh&#257&#299 B&#363b&#257 went to Bah&#257walpur state as chief court musician, and Bh&#257&#299 Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh returned to Gur&#363sar where, after the death of his patron, he succeeded him as <i>mahant</i>. An <i>akh&#257&#7771&#257</i> or seat of the Nirmal&#257 sect, to which the <i>mahants</i> of Gur&#363sar belonged, had been established at Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 in 1861. Mahant Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh visited there regularly, especially during the rainy season, and his performance both as a vocalist and instrumentalist attracted wide notice. His virtuosity in playing on the <i>t&#257&#363s</i>, a bow instrument with frets like a <i>sit&#257r</i>, had become proverbial. He had a style of his own and, copying his master M&#299r Rahmat 'Al&#299's <i>v&#299&#7751&#257, sur-bah&#257r</i> and <i>sit&#257r</i>, he was able to produce the effect of <i>jh&#257l&#257</i> or <i>jha&#7749k&#257r</i>, i.e. trilling, on his <i>t&#257&#363s</i>. Bh&#257&#299 K&#257hn Si&#7749gh of N&#257bh&#257, scholar and encyclopaedist, who had attended some of his performances, wrote in his <i>Gurushabad Ratn&#257kar Mah&#257n Kosh</i> : "Bh&#257&#299 Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh has been a peerless pa&#7751&#7693it of music. Those who have listened to his <i>al&#257p</i> or melody on the <i>t&#257&#363s</i> can never forget him."</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Mahant Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh continued to enjoy the patronage of ruling princes of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh (1891-1938) in fact served a period of apprenticeship with him learning classical music. At the Delhi Darb&#257r of 1911, Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh gave a memorable performance representing the Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 Ghar&#257n&#257 of music. He was rewarded with the grant of a free Railway pass for life to travel anywhere in India for the propagation of his art. Encouraged by Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Bh&#363pinder Si&#7749gh, he took up the project of recording the original <i>r&#299ts</i>, i.e. forms or modes of the <i>r&#257gas</i> as set by Gur&#363 Arjan and preserved orally by Sikh musicians. The work had been undertaken during the time of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh by the Nirmal&#257 Mahant of &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 Mishr&#257 Si&#7749gh in Amritsar, but it had remained incomplete. However, the then priest of &#7692er&#257 B&#257b&#257 Mishr&#257 Si&#7749gh, Mahant Kap&#363r Si&#7749gh, was invited to Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257. Two other helpers appointed were Mahant Mel&#257 Si&#7749gh and B&#257b&#257 Di&#257l Si&#7749gh Kairo&#7749. Already in 1910, Bh&#257&#299 B&#363b&#257 had, at Mahant Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh's persuasion, joined the Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 court. R&#257m Krishan Si&#7749gh, a junior <i>mahant</i> at the historical Gurdw&#257r&#257 Mot&#299b&#257<u>gh</u>, was co-opted as adviser on Sanskrit musical terminology, and Bh&#257&#299 Durg&#257 Si&#7749gh, the best-known calligraphist of Pa&#7789i&#257l&#257 at the time, was engaged as the scribe. Mahant Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh, as the head of the team, started work on the thirty-one <i>r&#257gas</i> of the Gur&#363 Granth S&#257hib, with an introductory part covering two of the three initial compositions, <i>Rahr&#257si</i> and <i>K&#299rtan Sohil&#257,</i> which form part of the daily devotions of the Sikhs. He had also taken up the five <i>chauk&#299s,</i> i.e. daily choruses or hymn singing sessions, and some of the <i>V&#257rs</i> in different musical measures when death intervened. Mahant Gajj&#257 Si&#7749gh died on 12 June 1914, and the work was left unfinished.</p> </ol><p class="CONT">Mrigendra Si&#7749gh<br></p><BR> </font> <img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""> </HTML></BODY>