Bhajan

A devotional song, especially one expressing love or praise for a Hindu deity. Bhajans are often sung communally, with repeated verses or refrains.

Bhakti: A Hindu devotional tradition centered on loving attachment to a personal deity. Bhajans give sung form to bhakti’s expression of loving devotion.
Call and response: A musical pattern in which a leader’s phrase is answered by a group or another performer. Bhajan singers may use this pattern to involve a congregation in the performance.
Alvars: Tamil poet-saints who composed devotional hymns to Vishnu between the sixth and ninth centuries. Their vernacular hymns helped establish influential South Indian traditions of sung devotion.
Puja: A Hindu act of worship involving offerings and ritual attention to a deity or sacred presence. A bhajan may accompany or follow household or temple worship.
Qawwali: A form of Sufi devotional music, especially associated with South Asian shrines and ensembles. Qawwali shares devotional intensity with bhajan but belongs to a distinct Sufi musical tradition.
Kirtan: A devotional practice involving the singing or recitation of sacred names, often responsively. Kirtan often uses call and response, while bhajan can be sung without a lead-and-response structure.
Harmonium: A keyboard instrument that produces sound by directing air through free reeds. A harmonium commonly supplies melody and pitch support in bhajan singing.
Nayanars: Tamil poet-saints who composed devotional hymns to Shiva, especially between the sixth and ninth centuries. Their hymns helped shape the regional culture of singing devotion to a Hindu deity.
Satsang: A gathering for spiritual discussion, teaching, or devotional practice. Communities often sing bhajans as part of a satsang.
Abhang: A Marathi devotional verse form associated especially with the Varkari tradition and devotion to Vithoba. Abhangs are a specific Marathi devotional song tradition, rather than a broad label for Hindu devotional songs.

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