Bhajan

What the word means

The Sanskrit noun bhajana, and the form bhajanam, come from the root bhaj. That root holds a cluster of senses: to divide, to share, to take part, to belong to. So the word gathers ideas of fondness, attachment, homage and worship. The well-known phrase Bhaja Govindam uses it as an instruction to revere Govinda. In everyday use a bhajan is a devotional song in any language, and the same word can name a gathering where such songs are sung. Bhajana can also mean sharing.

Roots in Vedic song

Devotional singing in India rests on very old musical and metrical practice. The Samaveda is the clearest example: its Samhita is a text meant for hearing rather than reading, closer to a musical score. Later Vedic writing names two scholars, Shilalin and Krishashva, remembered as early students of drama, singing and dance, whose schools may have served Vedic ritual. Those rituals joined performance to worship, with praise sung to the gods and dialogue carrying ethical teaching. The Vedas and Upanishads also describe nada-brahman, sound treated as elemental and sacred, and rasa, the emotional taste a melody leaves. Bhajan grew from this ground.

The Bhakti movement

Bhajans became a widespread way of expressing devotion between roughly the 6th and 17th centuries, in the medieval currents of Bhakti and Sant. Saints and poets wrote verses in regional languages instead of a single learned tongue, which opened the songs to many more people. Kabir, Mirabai, Tulsidas and Surdas are named among them, and Narsinh Mehta is remembered for bhajans that are still sung. Their words dwell on divine love and on the closeness between singer and deity. Devotion of this kind crossed caste and social rank, and it gave bhajan its lasting shape.

Singing together

A bhajan has no prescribed form. It can be as plain as a repeated mantra or as elaborate as a dhrupad, thumri or kriti, and its melody usually rests on a raga with a tala to keep time. Instruments are simple: a tambourine, a tabla or a dholak for rhythm, and the kartals, tiny cymbals held in the hand, to hold the beat. A group of performers may be called a mandali. Singers may perform alone, but choral singing is more common, with words in the local language. Modern recordings by singers such as Krishna Das, Deva Premal and Miten have carried bhajans to Western listeners.

Beyond Hinduism

Jains sing stavan, a devotional genre that praises the Jina and explores Jain teaching. Jainism holds no creator god but recognises protector deities and the rebirth of souls, and those beliefs shape the songs. Stavan may include dance and ritual, and Jain women often sing them as folk melodies at ceremonies. In the languages of north and west India the same songs are called bhajan. Buddhist traditions use vocal music with instruments in ritual and festival, sometimes as an offering. Newari Buddhists keep the Gunla Bajan tradition, and Bengali Barua Buddhists sing Buddha-samkirtan. Sikh worship also gives bhajan a place, with Shabad Kirtan as the common form of community singing.

How Bhajan is kept

There is no set script. A singer or a small group begins a song, and others join in. Percussion keeps time: a tabla, a dholak or a tambourine, and often the kartals, small cymbals held in the hand. Some bhajans are call and response, some are heard in silence by listeners, and some end in dancing. A gathering of performers may be called a mandali. Afterwards people often share food, meet and catch up. Temples, homes, courtyards, river banks and pilgrimage sites all serve as places to sing, and one person alone can sing a bhajan too.

When and where

There is no fixed day or season. Bhajans are sung during festivals and special events, at temple gatherings, in homes and at pilgrimage sites, wherever and whenever people come together. Many are centuries old and passed down as a community repertoire, while new ones are composed all the time by anyone who wants to praise a deity.

Bhajans are sung across India and in Nepal, and they are especially strong among Vaishnav communities devoted to Krishna, Rama, Vitthal or Narayana. Singers in South India keep the Dakshina Bharatha Sampradaya Bhajanai tradition. Jain stavan are sung in north and west India, Newari Buddhists in South Asia keep their own bhajan tradition, and communities in Fiji, South Africa and Trinidad trace the practice to 19th century plantation labour.

What Bhajan means

Those who keep bhajans often treat sound itself as sacred. Vedic and Upanishadic thought speaks of nada-brahman, the idea that certain sounds move a listener without carrying a literal meaning, and of rasa, the emotional taste a melody leaves behind. Singing together is also a levelling act: from the Bhakti movement onward, bhajans let people of different castes and backgrounds worship side by side. For many, the song is a way of loving a deity personally, and the shared singing gives a community its sense of who it is.

Questions people ask about Bhajan

See also

RaslilaA traditional Indian dance and folk theatre performance depicting the divine love of Krishna and the gopis.Baul traditionA Bengali devotional minstrel path uniting mystic poetry, music and danceMother's DayA worldwide annual celebration dedicated to mothers, maternal bonds and family careKailash Mansarovar YatraA high-altitude pilgrimage to Mount Kailash and Lake Manasarovar in Tibet

Good reading and sources

• Bhajan on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-05.