“Vajai anhad mera mun leena” – Sound, Sense and Sensibility in Sikhi – Dr. Inderjit Nilu Kaur
“Vajai anhad mera mun leena” – Sound, Sense and Sensibility in Sikhi
Abstract
Guru Granth Sahib celebrates naad (shabad, raag, dhuni) yet values anahad — shabad anahad, mridang anahad, anhad bani, anhad dhuni and anhad kinguri . What is the connection between audible and mystical vibrations? How do we experience them? What is the role of physical senses? What and how do we hear? What is the Sikh aesthetic regarding the enjoyment of shabad dhun? What is the ras and how are we to be rasiya? I aim to discuss these questions within the larger concept of non-duality in Sikhi.
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Author Bio
Dr. Inderjit Nilu Kaur is a musicologist specializing in the musicological and performative aspects of Sikh shabad kirtan. She has published papers in scholarly journals such as Journal of Punjab Studies and Sikh Formations, and magazines such as Nishaan. She has presented her research at scholarly conferences in universities, including Oxford University and UC Berkeley, and also at gurdwaray and community forums. Her educational work includes founding and designing the international Sikh Youth Kirtan Competition for the Sri Hemkunt Foundation of New York, as well as directing youth kirtan ensembles. Inderjit has founded the Sikh Music Heritage Institute (www.SikhMusicHeritage.org), a non-profit organization committed to research in, education on and preservation of heritage shabad kirtan. Her preservation work includes the production of a DVD of historical compositions by renowned 11th generation rāgi, late Bhai Avtar Singh. At his request, she translated into English the text of his four-volume (forthcoming) book of historical compositions. Inderjit is trained in Indian classical music, and grew up singing shabad kirtan in rāg. She has a PhD in economics from UC Berkeley and has taught economics for many years, while continuing her active engagement with music. She is currently pursuing a PhD in ethnomusicology at UC Berkeley, and continuing her work on Sikh and Indian Classical musicology as Research Associate in the Music Department at UC Santa Cruz, and her service, as Advisor, Sikh and Punjabi Studies, in the UC Santa Cruz Humanities Division.