{{Short description|Hymn that accompanies religious observances and rituals}} {{for multi|the 1992 album by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan|Devotional Songs||Devotional (disambiguation)}} {{More citations needed|date=September 2014}}
A '''devotional song''' is a hymn that accompanies religious observances and rituals. Traditionally devotional music has been a part of Hindu music, Jewish music, Buddhist music, Islamic music and Christian music.
Each major religion has its own tradition with devotional hymns. In Christianity, the devotional has been a part of the liturgy in Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, and others, since their earliest days. A devotional is a part of the prayer service proper and is not, in these contexts, ornamentation. Within the Reformed tradition, church music in general was hotly debated; some Puritans objected to all ornament and sought to abolish choirs, hymns, and, inasmuch as liturgy itself was rejected, devotionals.
In Eastern and Near-Eastern religions, devotionals can function as communion prayer and meditation. These are sung in particular rhythms which are sustained over a prolonged period to give practitioners a mystical experience. In Hindu music, the genre arising out of the Bhakti movement (devotion), it takes forms like Bhajan, Kirtan and Aarti.<ref name="GoswamiThielemann2005">{{cite book|author1=Saurabh Goswami|author2=Selina Thielemann|author2-link=Selina Sharma|title=Music and Fine Arts in the Devotional Traditions of India: Worship Through Beauty|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xEnT57bbZG8C|year= 2005|pages=2–10|publisher=APH Publishing|isbn=978-81-7648-811-2}}</ref><ref name="Nijenhuis2011">{{cite book|author=Emmie te Nijenhuis|author-link=Emmie te Nijenhuis|title=Kīrtana: Traditional South Indian Devotional Songs: Compositions of Tyāgarāja, Muttusvāmi Dīkṣitar and Śyāma Śāstri|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BI8sygAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Brill Academic Pub|isbn=978-90-04-20933-6}}</ref>
==Kinds of devotional music== *Bhajan: a Hindu or Sikh devotional. *Kirtan *Shyama Sangeet *Borgeet: an Assamese devotional. * Gunla Bajan * Dapha music
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
Category:Religious music Category:Song forms