Kiirtan is a devotional music practice originating from India that is aimed at achieving higher consciousness and spiritual awakening. There are different types of kiirtan and definitions of what it means, but the most simple definition of kiirtan is “singing a mantra”. Click here to find out more about mantra.
Kiirtan is a Saḿskrta word and it comes from the root verb “kiirt”, meaning “to utter something loudly in praise of someone”1 Singing the name of the divine is called nama kiirtan (nama means “name“). This is the most common form of kiirtan. There are many names for the divine, so there are many different mantras that can be used for kiirtan.
Why is it spelt “kiirtan” rather than the common spelling “kirtan”?
There are 2 types of “i” in Saḿskrta – a short one and a long one. The short i is the 3rd letter of the Saḿskrta alphabet, the long i is the fourth letter. In Devanagari script, K followed by a short i would be shown as कि and K followed by a long i shown as की. The Saḿskrta word for kirtan/kiirtan in Devanagari script is कीर्तन, in Bengali script it is কীর্তন. Different systems of Roman Saḿskrta represent this long i in different ways, either ī, ii or ee. So Kirtan is more correctly spelled Kīrtan, Kīrtana, Kiirtan, Kiirtana or Keertan.
What is Akhańd́a Kiirtan?
Akhańd́a means continuous, so Akhańd́a Kiirtan is kiirtan usually means kiirtan lasting 3 hours or more. It is usually in multiples of 3, so 3, 6, 9, 12 or 24 hours. It can also be days, weeks or years long. For example, the Akhańd́a Kiirtan of Peace has been going for more than 2 years.
- Source: “The Lord Should Always Be Praised”
Published in:
The Flow of Devotion and the Glory of Kiirtana [a compilation]
Release: Electronic edition version 9.0.19 ↩︎