Kirtan: The Sacred Music of the Sikhs: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

The Sikh movement, a devotional way of life, began in the fifteenth century with the travels of the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak, who
grew up in the northwestern part of India near what is now the Pakistani city of Lahore.1 As a youth he demonstrated a deeply spiritual disposition and sought out the holy men who travelled through his village to learn from them. A child of the Bedi caste, he studied the Vedas and its language,Sanskrit. He studied Persian as well, which was the governmental language of the Muslims ruling Northern India. Perhaps most pertinent for this issue of JVS, Guru Nanak also studied singing and chanting from traditional teachers like those available even today throughout India’s many villages.