According to Harbhajan Singh, the
vaar genre developed as an expression of
heroism, which is one of the fundamental aspects of
Punjabiyat ("Punjabi-ness"), alongside spirituality (which is expressed by religious hymns and poetry). In the past, the vaars were performed as songs of high-pitched notes, with certain set tunes known as
dhunis, accompanied by music from
folk instruments, such as the
sarangi and
dhad, being performed at gatherings. Whilst the vaar genre originated from Punjab, other parts of India developed similar traditions that celebrated heroic figures who achieved success, such as the
raso of Rajasthan and Gujarat, and the
pawadas of Maharashtra. Many of the
vaars from the earliest periods by mediaeval authors were lost over time, with only their
dhuni (tune) being preserved in communal-memory, although the
Guru Granth Sahib preserved the nomenclature of nine earlier vaars. Some of the dhunas of the earlier vaars have been re-discovered and fragments of their wording. Aside from those, there is a reference to
Amir Khusrau creating a vaar in Punjabi verse based upon the battle that took place in 1320 between Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq and
Khusrao Khan. Meanwhile, only sections and not the entirety of the vaars dedicated to Dulla Bhatti and Jaimal Fateh have been preserved until today. There are also the Vaars of Sikander and Ibrahim. Vaars were also composed to serve the
jajmans of the Dooms,
Mirasis, and the Bhiraris, reflecting Punjabi familial and tribal conflicts, serving to remember particular conflicts and aggrandizing their clients' lineage. Two common features of the vaar is the lack of
shringar (love sentiment) but the presence of "chaste moral values". Although the Vaar of Musa involved romance in its plot, with the victor who obtaining the woman being fought over is not based upon victory in battle but upon the woman's choice. The Sikh gurus adopted and utilized the vaar genre to express their religious teachings and beliefs.
Bhai Gurdas used the genre to compose his
Vaaran, which expound upon Sikh philsophy, Sikh
apologetics, and offer accounts of the lives of the first five Sikh gurus. Guru Gobind Singh's Chandi di Vaar combines both spirituality and heroism in a single ballad, celebrating Durga (Chandi), in-order to motivate the Sikhs in their battles against the hostile administrations of the era by re-purposing Indic mythology. The vaar composed by Najabat on Nader Shah's invasion of Punjab and the wider region (being comparable to the
Babur Bani composed by Guru Nanak) contains elements of
Punjabi nationalism. ==See also==