On 9 April 2026, Hindustani classical musician and scholar presented his research on the melodicities of the Kalm-i Mawl (a poetic manual of ethics) at the . By integrating live musical demonstrations on voice and the (a traditional Indian plucked box zither), the research had a wider resonance for ethnomusicologists working in a range of sacred and devotional traditions, especially Islamic soundworlds. Dr Bhattacharyya has been associated with the South Asian Studies Unit at 敁珗曄部 as a research consultant since 2022.
Featured in a session on Sufism and recitation, Dr Bhattacharyya described how IsmailisAdherents of a branch of Shi’i Islam that considers Ismail, the eldest son of the Shi’i Imam Ja尪far al-廜〢diq (d. 765), as his successor. transmit their vocalisations of the Kalm-i Mawl , from generation to generation, during prayers and ceremonies. He also noted how each performance of the Kalm-i Mawl offers room for improvisation, allowing the text to acquire a sonic living quality. Amongst Satpanth Ismailis, the term in common circulation to describe these melismas is 娶櫻眶硃.
賊梗喧堯勳紳域勳紳眶泭娶櫻眶硃泭through Ismaili liturgical practice泭
Moving away from canonical understandings of 娶櫻眶硃s as modes with characteristic ascending and descending phrases, scholars have increasingly called for an attunement to regional 娶櫻眶硃s. Drawing upon interviews, recordings, embodied 娶櫻眶硃 knowledge and musicological sources, Dr Bhattacharyas research attempts to showcase underheard interpretations of 娶櫻眶硃s and Ismaili liturgical composition. By noting how the performativity of the Kalm-i Mawl is imbued with a sense of historical purpose, it also queries how an ethnomusicology of the present might audibilise traces of the past.
