Citation: Beck, Guy L. 2023. Shared Religious Soundscapes: Indian R ¯ aga Music in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Devotion in South Asia. Religions 14: 1406. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/rel14111406 Academic Editor: Dyron B. Daughrity Received: 8 September 2023 Revised: 18 October 2023 Accepted: 7 November 2023 Published: 10 November 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). religions Article Shared Religious Soundscapes: Indian R ¯ aga Music in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Devotion in South Asia Guy L. Beck Department of Religious Studies, Loyola University New Orleans, New Orleans, LA 70118-6143, USA; glbeck@loyno.edu Abstract: Music has played a central role in Indian religious experience for millennia. The origins of Indian music include the recitation of the sacred syllable OM and Sanskrit Mantras in ancient Vedic fire sacrifices. The notion of Sound Absolute, first in the Upanishads as ´ Sabda-Brahman and later as N¯ ada-Brahman, formed the theological background for music, Sang¯ ıta, designed as a vehicle of liberation founded upon the worship of Hindu deities expressed in r ¯ agas, or specific melodic formulas. Nearly all genres of music in India, classical or devotional, share this theoretical and practical understanding, extending to other Indic religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. What is less documented is how r ¯ aga music has been adopted by non-Indic communities in South Asia: Judaism (Bene Israel), Christianity (Catholic), and Islam (Chishti Sufi). After briefly outlining the relation between religion and the arts, the Indian aesthetics of Rasa, and the basic notions of sacred sound and music in Hinduism, this essay reveals the presence of r ¯ aga music, specifically the structure or melodic pattern of the morning r ¯ aga known as Bhairava, in compositions praising the divinity of each non-Indic tradition: Adonai, Jesus, and Allah. As similar tone patterns appear in the religious experiences of these communities, they reveal the phenomenon of “shared religious soundscapes” relevant to the comparative study of religion and music, or Musicology of Religion. Keywords: comparative religion; comparative musicology; Indian music; Hinduism and music “If it is granted that the concept of the Absolute as sound is true and that music is a possible way to the final Reality, it would follow that the musician must cultivate sound in all its aspects and infinite variety... The Absolute, when realized, satisfies our deepest needs”. ----Sushil Kumar Saxena, “Spirituality and the Music of India” (Saxena 1997, p. 440) “Across time and geography people have known the power of music for evoking gods and acquiring spiritual insight, whether arising as a textless chant by a single voice or a percussive auditory event for ritual dance, music in its various modes is a virtually ubiquitous companion to religious and spiritual practices”. ----Edward Foley, Music and Spirituality (Foley 2015, p. ix) 1. Introduction When audiences first hear the enchanting r ¯ aga melodies played on the sitar and sarod, few may be aware of their links to the Vedic syllable OM ( ॐ ) or to ancient Indian notions of sacred sound. Yet just as “classical music” in the West is indebted to Biblical traditions and Greek music theory, Indian r ¯ aga music is grounded upon sonic metaphysical principles and worship. Representing a continuity over many centuries, nearly all genres of Indian music, whether classical or devotional, share this theoretical and practical understanding. But while it is generally known how the ancient Indian principles and practices of sound and music have influenced the Hindu religion as well as other Indic religions like Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, what is less understood is how Indian r ¯ aga music has been utilized by Religions 2023, 14, 1406. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14111406 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions