HINDUSTHANI MUSIC SCHOOL

Bhajan refers to any devotional song with religious theme or spiritual ideas, in any of the languages from the Indian subcontinent. The ter, "bhajan" is also commonly used to refer a group event. withone or more liead singers, accompanied with music, and sometimes dancing. Minimally there is a percussion accompaniment such as tabla, a dholak or tamborine. Handheld small cymbals (kartals) are commonly used to maintan the beat, rhythm. A bhajan may be sung in a temple, in a home, under a treein the open, near a river bank or a place of historic significance. As a bhajan has no prescribed form, or set rules, it is in free form, normally lyrical and based on melodic ragas. It belongs to a genre of music and arts that developedwith the Bhakti movement. It is found in the various traditions of Hinduism but particularly in Vaishnavism. It is also found in Jainism.