BASANT,

BASANT, a musical measure used in the Guru Granth Sahib. It is a raga of the season of Basant (Skt. vasant) or spring, and during that season can be sung any time of day or night. Otherwise, it is reserved for the night between 9 p.m. and midnight. It is a very popular and melodious measure tracing its origin to the eighth century. In the Ragamala, as included in the Sikh scripture, it is recorded as a son (putra) of Hindol which is also a raga of spring.

The only variant of Basant employed in the Guru Granth Sahib is Basant Hindol: the latter is not very popular and is used in no other granth. Basant is performed in slow tempo, and this gentle melody depicts quiet joy.The descending scale is usually found at the beginning of a composition with the ascending form following later. i Ascending : Sa Ga Ma Dha Sa Descending : Re Ne Dha Pa Ma Ga Ma Ga Re Sa Vadls : tar saptak Sa and madbya saptak Pa Pakar : Sa Ma Ga, Ma Dha Sa RÂ£ Ne Dha Pa Ma Ga Ma Ga RÂ£ Sa o If Basant melodies do not begin on upper Sa, they will move quickly to it, and then slowly descending on the high vadt.

Descending vadis are characterized by Ma/tivra Ga in alternate fast and slow sequence. Sometimes a glide comes between Ne and Dha Komal. In ascending patterns, Re Komal and Pa are avoided. In the Guru Granth Sahib, Guru Nanak, Guru Amar Das, Guru Ram Das, Guru Arjan and Guru Tegh Bahadur, besides Kabir, Ramanand, Namdev and Ravidas, have corn* posed hymns in the Basant measure.

References :

1. Charan Singh, Sri Guru Granth Bani” Beura. Amritsar, 1860
2. Gian Singh, Gurbani Sangit. Amritsar, 1972
3. Avtar Singh, Bhai, and Bhai Gurcharan Singh, Gurbani Sangit Prachin Rit Ratnavali. Patiala, 1979
4. Srivastava, Harishchandra, Rag-Parichaya (Part IV). Allahabad, 1968