Articles
Raagmala: Reading Two Defences Together
Five articles that read Sant Tehal Singh's Gur Gira (1908) and Dr Balbir Singh's Ragmala Da Swal (1945 to 1969) side by side: the musical structure of Raagmala, the tests people use to judge it, the Alam borrowing claim, the manuscript evidence, and how the two defences strengthen each other. Every footnote cites a printed page and links to that page of the scanned book.
A note on how these were written: the articles use only the two supplied books as sources. They mainly paraphrase rather than quote, keep the authors' claims attributed to the authors, and do not add outside sources or present-day rulings. Where an earlier draft overstated something (a 'forensic' ink test, a letter that survives only in memory), the published text says so.
The series
- 1Reading Raagmala as a Garland of Raags9 min read · At the end of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, Raagmala brings the reader into a world of musical families. Raags app…
- 2How Should Raagmala Be Judged? Signatures, Language and the Scriptural Ending9 min read · Some of the most influential objections to Raagmala begin with very small features: a missing authorial headin…
- 3Raagmala and Alam: Reading the Borrowing Claim in Both Directions11 min read · When closely related passages appear in two works, their resemblance can seem to tell a complete story. One au…
- 4Raagmala in the Birs: The Case for Manuscript Continuity10 min read · A claim that a composition was added to scripture is a claim about something that happened to a text. At some …
- 5From Endorsement to Examination: How Two Defences Strengthen the Case for Raagmala10 min read · The opening pages of Sant Tehal Singh’s defence of Raagmala contain something more personal than a list of arg…
Reading notes on Gur Gira
Six notes written from Sant Tehal Singh's 1908 book alone. About the book.
- 1The Raagmala Debate: Understanding Sant Tehal Singh’s Defence9 min read · For Sant Tehal Singh, the question of Raagmala was inseparable from a larger responsibility: how should Sikhs …
- 2The Raagmala Mystery: Five Insights from a Century-Old Defence8 min read · A missing signature. A musical passage found in another book. An old manuscript with a disputed ending. Each c…
- 3Who Wrote Raagmala? Sant Tehal Singh’s Response to the Alam Theory8 min read · One of the central claims challenged in Gur Gira Raagmala Mandan Prabodh is that Raagmala came from a literary…
- 4Decoding the Divine Seal: Raagmala, “Nanak” and Mundavani8 min read · What makes a composition recognisable as Gurbani? A heading? The name “Nanak”? Its position in an authorised m…
- 5The People Behind the Defence: Raagmala Endorsements from 1908-19098 min read · Before Sant Tehal Singh begins his detailed answers about Raagmala, he places a community of readers before th…
- 6Raagmala in Historical Birs: Reading Sant Tehal Singh's Manuscript Survey10 min read · Near the end of Gur Gira Raagmala Mandan Prabodh, Sant Tehal Singh moves from objections about language, autho…
Reading notes on Ragmala Da Swal
Five notes written from Dr Balbir Singh's book alone. About the book.
- 1The Raagmala Mystery: Decoding the Final Pages of Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji9 min read · A short composition can carry a debate far larger than its length. Raagmala, the concluding composition of Sri…
- 2The Family Tree of Melody: An Introduction to Raagmala9 min read · Raagmala presents musical names as a family. Six principal ragas stand at the centre of the arrangement, each …
- 3Raagmala and the Historical Record: Manuscripts, Printed Texts and the 1945 Debate10 min read · A claim about a manuscript can travel much further than the person who first examined it. Once repeated in boo…
- 4Decoding the Raagmala Debate: Following Dr Balbir Singh's Investigation11 min read · A date written inside a book seems to offer a firm starting point. Yet if the book is a translation, the date …
- 5Assessing Raagmala: Dr Balbir Singh's Theological and Historical Defence10 min read · The strength of an argument depends partly on knowing what kind of argument it is. A statement about handwriti…