Part 4 - Oral tradition and literary religious sources

The religious sources are derived from oral tradition. It is customary in India to offer respect to God in many ways. It could be singing, dancing, make an offering to God, do penance, Pooja, Aarti etc. The most common being singing and clapping. The singing of Bhajans is found to be very popular in rural and urban India in the temples of practically every God. The Bhajan, of which singing is the main part, is accompanied by musical instruments like harmonium, Tabla, Dholki and Taal and Chipali (especially in Maharashtra). It helps the mind and body to relax and also takes one away from the rut of day to day monotonous life. The other types of singing also involve Sakhi, Doha and Pallav or Pallu, especially for Lord Jhulelal. This all would have probably appeared initially in the oral form and then they were noted down to make them available in the written form.

Some people are known to go into a trance while doing the Bhajan, they become one with their favourite deity, they forget about the material thing and worldly matters in such a state. There are examples of many Saints in India who are known to have attained such a state. Some examples are Saint Kabir, Saint Tukaram, Saint Namdev and practically from every state of India one can find numerous examples.

There are a number of Bhajans available describing the greatness of Lord Jhulelal along with other poetic forms such as Doha, Sakhi and Pallav or Pallo. The Pallav is a very popular mode of worship of Lord Jhulelal which is generally sung at the end of Bhajans. It is meant to offer full surrender to Lord Jhulelal and spread a handkerchief or a small square piece of cloth or a part of dupatta or sari by a devotee in front of Lord Jhulelal and to ask for his grace unto the person offering the prayers.

Bhajans are a daily ritual in most of the temples of Lord Jhulelal during evening time, when people visit the temple to offer their prayers and respect to Lord Jhulelal. The Bhajan could be in Sindhi, Hindi, Kutchi or Gujarati or any regional languages. Sometimes they are composed in such way that they follow or copy some popular songs, tunes or Bhajans from Hindi cinemas of 70’s and 80’s.

Many books comprising of Bhajans are published by the devotees of Lord Jhulelal for free distribution. Some of these are as old as sixty to seventy years. During celebration and festivals such as Cheti Chand, the singing of Bhajan, Kirtan and Sumiran form an important part of cultural program.

The religious work includes many small books and booklets, which are distributed free of cost to devotees visiting the temples during festivals. At the same time, it is observed that there are religious books which are much larger in size than booklets. These may range up to a few hundreds of pages. They include some photographs of deities as well. Some books are found which are quite large in their size as well as in a number of pages resembling 'Purana', the one by the name ‘Shri Amar Katha -Shri Jhulelalji” can be included in this category.