Chants of India
Anoushka Shankar plays the sitar while performed with the jazz ensemble Jazzmin. (Photo: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images)
Sanskrit chants from the Vedas, Upanishads, and other texts have been handed down through the centuries by Traditional Scholars in India. In these renditions, Ravi Shankar reconfigured existing forms and composed new numbers to convey the spiritual force of these Sanskrit mantras and chants.
Oftentimes, it's the repetitive use of mantras that calls upon the internal spiritual self. And, it's the primordial, and shortest, sacred sound Aum or Om that is used before or after each prayer.
These chants, Shankar notes, "were mainly prayers for the well being of the universe, physical, mental, and spiritual selves of everyone, without pollution, turmoil, illness, discomfort, and misery of any kind and for overall Shanti (peace)."
Listen to a sampling of these musical forms and read the English transliterations and translations of the Sanskrit.
Yaa Kundendutushaarahaaradhavalaa Yaa Shubhravastraavrtaa Yaa Veenaavaradandamanditakaara Yaa Shvetapadmaasanaa.
*(Yaa Brahmaachyutashankaraprabhrtibhir- Devaissadaa Poojitaa Saa Maam Paatu Sarasvatee Bhagavatee Nishsheshajaadyaapahaa.)
Gururbrahmaa Gururvisnuh Gururdevo Mahesvarah. Gurussaakshaat Param Brahma Tasmai Shri Gurave Namah.
May that Goddess – Bhagavati – the blessed Saraswati presiding deity of learning and remover of our lethargy, laziness, and ignorance, kindly protect us. She is pure and white like the Jasmine, the full moon and the garland-like formation of dewdrops. She is dressed in a spotless robe. She has in her hand the auspicious instrument Vina. She is seated on a white lotus. She is the one who is always respected by Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, Shankara the annihilator and other Gods.
The Guru is none other than the creator, Lord Brahma; he verily is Lord Vishnu, the preserver, and he truly is Mahesvara, the destroyer. He is the supreme Brahman himself. To such a Guru I offer my salutations.
