Editing Bhajan (section)

==Modern composers and singers of Bhajans==
[[File:Local musicians singing bhajan at kamakhya temple, Guwahati, Assam, India.webm|thumb|Local musicians singing bhajan at [[Kamakhya temple]], [[Guwahati]], [[Assam]], India]]
A modern Bhajan has no fixed form: it may be as simple as a [[mantra]] or [[kirtan]] or as sophisticated as the [[dhrupad]], ''[[thumri]]'' or ''[[Kriti (music)|kriti]]'' with music based on [[Indian classical music|classical]] [[raga]]s and [[Tala (music)|talas]].<ref>David Courtney: http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/bhajan.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210315231155/http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/bhajan.html |date=15 March 2021 }}</ref>

[[Vishnu Digambar Paluskar|V. D. Paluskar]] and [[Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande|V. N. Bhatkhande]] have combined [[Indian classical music]] with bhajan. [[Pandit Kumar Gandharva]] made famous the Nirguni Bhajans of [[Sant Kabir]] and Malwa Region. The dancer [[Mallika Sarabhai]] has produced performances based on bhajans. Abhinaya Chakravathi Sri JS Eswara Prasad Rao of Hyderabad, who is the disciple of AL Krishnamurthy Bhagavathar, Pudukkottai system, has produced performances based on Sampradaya bhajans under the title "Nitrya Sankeerthnam".{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

Bhajans of [[Vaishnavism]], [[Shaivism]], [[Shaktism]] traditions, Vedic mantras and Yoga chants have been composed, published in Western musical sheet format or recorded by western singers such as [[Krishna Das (singer)|Krishna Das]], [[Deva Premal]], [[Andy Desmond|Miten]], and by various West Indies singers influenced by East Indian heritage.<ref>{{cite book|author=Isabel Laack|title=Religion und Musik in Glastonbury: Eine Fallstudie zu gegenwärtigen Formen religiöser Identitätsdiskurse|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TW_al8WEHfQC&pg=PA297|year=2011|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|isbn=978-3-647-54011-5 |pages=298–306, 582 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Helen Myers|title=Music of Hindu Trinidad: Songs from the India Diaspora|url=https://archive.org/details/musicofhindutrin00myer|url-access=registration| year=1998|publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-55453-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/musicofhindutrin00myer/page/294 294]–339, 111–150}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=Annette Wilke |author2=Oliver Moebus |title=Sound and Communication: An Aesthetic Cultural History of Sanskrit Hinduism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wmYz_OtZ_gC |year=2011|publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-024003-0 |pages=285, 477–484, 790–801 }}</ref>

The ''Stavan'' compositions and literature of the Jainism tradition are extensive, with a historic overview provided by ''Sri Sudhara Stavan Sangrah'', traditionally preserved in "puja box" by Jain families.<ref name=kelting215/> It is vectored text with Jain lyrics and is canonically inspired.<ref name=kelting215>{{cite book|author=Mary Whitney Kelting|title=Singing to the Jinas: Jain Laywomen, Maṇḍaḷ Singing, and the Negotiations of Jain Devotion|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EqXmCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA215 |year=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514011-8 |pages=69, 215 with footnotes 13–14 }}</ref>

[[Kripalu Maharaj]] is one of the modern era bhakti leaders and bhajan-kirtan composers.<ref>Hutton, F. 2008. ''Rose lore: essays in cultural history and semiotics''. [[Lexington Books]].</ref> He has composed eleven thousand one hundred and eleven ''doha'' (couplets) on the ''[[Lila (Hinduism)|leela]]'' of [[Radha Krishna|Radha and Krishna]], and the [[bhakti|devotional]] philosophy called ''Radha Govind Geet''; 1008 ''pad'' (songs) called ''Prem Ras Madira''; hundreds of ''kirtan'' in the form of ''Yugal Shatak'' and ''Yugal Ras'' and twelve ''pad'' which fully describe the beauty and the decorations of Krishna, and thirteen ''pad'' which describe the beauty and the decorations of Radha called ''Shree Krishn Dwadashi'' and ''Shree Radha Trayodashi''.<ref>Saraswati, S. 2001. ''The true history and the relfigion of India: a concise encyclopedia of authentic hinduism''. [[Motilal Banarsidass]]</ref> Renditions of Shree Maharaji's ''bhajans'' and ''kirtans'' have been recorded by well-known singers in India such as [[Manna Dey]],<ref>Kinnear, M. 1985. ''A discography of Hindustani and Karnatic music''. [[Greenwood Press]].</ref> [[Ajnish]], [[Anuradha Paudwal]] and [[Anup Jalota]].<ref>''[http://www.indoamerican-news.com/?p=4372 Rang De with Anup Jalota at Radha Madhav Dham, Austin] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405031155/http://www.indoamerican-news.com/?p=4372 |date=5 April 2016 }}''. 20 October 2011. Indo-American News. Retrieved 15 December 2011.</ref><ref>''[https://carnatic-circle.com/sampradaya-bhajanai/ Sampradaya Bhajanai, Birmingham, UK]''. 14 July 2017. How to perform Dakshina Bharatha Sampradaya Bhajanai with English Lyrics.</ref>

In the olden days, [[sant (religion)|Sant]]s such as [[Mirabai]], [[Surdas]], and [[Narsinh Mehta]] composed several bhajans that are universally sung even today.