Abstract

Bhakti Sangit – in the form of bhajans and kirthans – has been integral to Hindu devotional practices since the medieval Bhakti movement. Traditionally, bhajan music has taken two primary forms: as communal, participatory singing in intimate, religious spaces, and as staged performances. Concert-style innovations were absent, though some changes were introduced in musicality and rhythm in the late twentieth century. However, in the post-pandemic years, a new wave of bhajan singers, who integrate concert aesthetics, fusion arrangements, and contemporary modes of performance, have gained prominence, drawing unprecedented audiences both online and in-person. Taking the Nandagovindam collective, a bhajan troupe in Kerala, as a case study, this paper investigates how their emergence signals a shift in devotional culture where sonic experimentation, visual spectacle, and digital virality reshape how bhakti is experienced, and examines how transformations of space – performative, sonic, and digital – construct celebrity for these performers. Drawing on the performance theories of Judith Butler, Erving Goffman, Richard Schechner, Henri Lefebvre, and Victor Turner, it argues that the devotional charisma of these young male singers is produced not only through their soulful spiritual renditions but is also co-created through strategic reconfigurations of staging, sound design, mediation, and spectacle.