Lalan Shah, one of the greatest mystic poets of this sub-continent was born in the year 1774 in the village Harishpur, under the present District of Jhenaidah in Bangladesh. Ultimately through many ups and downs of life, varied experiences and devotional pursuits, he settled in Seuria, a village near the present district headquarters of Kushtia. There was a time when Muslim sufimendicants covered almost all the areas of the then Bengal and many of their memories have now been turned to sacred legend. As for example, Shah Sultan Rumi, Hajrat Shah Jalal, Shah Sultan Makka, Shah Sultan Mahishwar, Khan Jehen Ali, Shah Ismail Gazi, Shah Makdum, Hajrat Jalal Uddin Tabreji and many of their followers can be mentioned.
Lalan Academy is supported by the government of West Bengal. Shaheed Smarak Committee high profile intellectuals are behind this event. But two names specially deserves mention. Dr Shubhendu Maiti is considered a specialist in folk songs and he is trying to put all folk available in hard disc in the Lalan academy premises. Jatindra Nath Roy is a very respected teacher across the border.He resides in Bahirgachhi near bagula and He is the president of Lalan Mela samiti. Top artists and intellectuals along with thousands of guests from Bangladesh are expected to come over.
BBC broadcasted a piece on Lalan Shah, the famous Baul poet of Bengal United who had been nomiÂnated by someone as the Best Bengali of all times and a recorded interview with the nominator was also broadcast by BBC.
Mohammad Abdullah, USA writesin his article published on bangladesh web titled`Rabindranath Tagore – The Poet And The Man An Analytical Perspective’:
Tagore’s controversy on Lalan Shah (Lalan Fakir) or the aforementioned Persian poets is a kind of illusion to the general readers. Through his great and unchallenged quality craftsmanship Tagore created works and presented them so marvellously that it seemed to be very original, and thereby he did surpass all other writers in Bengali literature of his time and writers to come even until the present day. He had no parallel in Bengali language that could graft words or phrases or use adjectives or verbs or synonyms so appropriately. Indeed he gave a new format and style in the Bengali language. He used many new words of foreign origin in Bengali including their spellings. Also new way to spell several Bengali words had been introduced by him. His way of using words and their spellings are now a kind of norm in Bengali literature.
Overall, Tagore’s expression was new, very graceful, and quite enchanting considering the time-space-era when he started writing in Bengali. It was the time when Bengali was still a developing language and was just getting a solid format with direct help and involvement of many European scholars. In this context it is worthwhile to mention that Sir Drinkwater Bethune (circa 1865) encouraged Michael Modhusudan Dutt (1824 – 1873) after reading “Captive Ladie†to contribute in his mother language rather than spending time on founding English literature. Nevertheless, this was the beginning of the foundation of the Bengali language concerning several directions of literature.™
Whenever you visit any part of Bengal accross the border you may coincide to meet aboul anywhere in a train compartment, on a station or stop, marketpalce, Hat, Mela or in a simple village.The sweet melody of his voice catering a devotional type or a folk based song, mostly pensive in mood or though seemingly joyful in its outer fabric, actually sad in its inner ambience, is made sweeter and more melodious by the occasional sounds from a stringed instrument.
Look he has in his right hand a one-stringed improvised instrument which they call ‘EKTARA’ literally meaning an instrument having only one string. He has also another one-stringed instrument in his left hand known as ‘Gupijantra’ which, when played with the help of a polished piece of coconut shell, scoops up an uncommon, never heard before sound, peculiar to hear isolated but suitable when played as an accompaniment, mainly a filler or interlude music for his song. No, he can not play the ‘Ektara’ and his ‘Gupijantra’ simultaneously as the later instrument demands employment of his both hands when played. But wonder of wonders! Look! Like a one-man orchestra, he is taking access to yet another instrument when he is not using his ‘Gupijantra’. This is a small sized drum type instrument, an indigenous version of a locally made percussion, the size of your palm, held in his left hand and slung with a string from his shoulder. Surely, he is playing this together with his ‘Ektara’ simultaneously, to provide occasional beats to one of his fast paced songs.
It was interesting to learn that to resist the oppression of Zamindars of the Thakur Privar, the Tagores, Lalan Shah organized his poor followers and raised his voice of protest against the powÂerful landlords. More interestingly, it was claimed that Tagore's family engaged armed thugs to deal with Lalan Shah and his followers. If this is true then the information broadcast by BBC opens wide, the doors to unknown chapters in the lives of Lalan Shah and Rabin-dranath Tagore.
You may not have heard the name of Kangal Harinath Majumdar who used to publish his Gram varta from Kushtia. He published details of the incidents of atrocties met by the peaants in Tagore Zamindari. It is quite a controversial topic and we find Tagore writing Rashiar Chithi, Rather Rashi and Chandalika, too. Tagore wrote in support of dalits and peasants as well. So we have to be very careful. But it is not quite unfair that Tagore owed his version of spiritualism to Bauls and sufis of Bengal,specially to Lalan fakir. Tagore declarede himself a baul. His great poetry Gitanjali which got him Nobel Prize, is also influenced by Lalan Fakir.
From the autobiographical book written by the later Mr P.A. Nazir a legendary civil servant of Bangladesh who was sacked by Yahya Khan, we learn how Tagore's son treated Lalan Shah as a beggar and how the great Baul reacted. We also learn about later relations that developed between Lalan and Rabindra Nath Tagore. But the latest information broadcast by BBC is of much more significance.
Some people strongly believe that Tagore has annexed many lyrics from Lalan Shah (1773? - 1889), the great mystic of medieval undivided Bengal and put them into new format for which he was a great original master. To collect Lalan’s unwritten poems Tagore conducted rampant search by making payments to the poor peasants, mostly Muslims, across the former district of Kushtia and adjoining areas. This only happened after the demise of Lalan while Tagore became Zamindar of the same district almost at the same time.
It is well known a fact and well documented.Poet Rabindranath Tagore in his Hebart Lecture in London (1933) first applauded Lalan Shah as a mystic poet who discovered 'soul' and the meaning of 'man'. Tagore said that I discovered that 'man' from the songs of Lalan who said that "(ai manushe ase se mon....) "....) the 'man' is within yourself where are you searching Him (Folkore, II, Calcutta, 1961).
Tagore through his Estate-Assistant Bamacharan Chakravarty managed to copy nearly 150 songs from his akhra (residing place) Seuria from which only a few songs were published in the monthly Probashi as 'Haramoni' in 1920. Soon after, search for similar songs were undertaken by various collectors including Md. Mansur Uddin. 'Haramoni' (1932) the preface of which was written by Tagore said that here, in these songs, Hindus and Muslims have been united under the same sky------ there is no barrier of caste or creed...'
Tagore wrote that it is a fact that I infused the tune of Baul (Lalan) in many of my songs and dramas. Dusan Zbavitel, a Czeck Folklorist wrote that 'it is my firm belief that if Tagore had not stayed in the countryside (Selaidah), he would not have become, what he was as a man or a poet. Now the scholars are discovering the Baul-motifs in his songs, dramas and poems, which needs elaborate discussion (Folklore, II, Calcutta, vol. 14,1961).
Baul is not just one of the many things unique to Bengal. This wandering music cult has a special place in the history of world music. The word "Baul" has its etymological origin in the Sanskrit words "Vatula" (madcap), or "Vyakula" (restless) and used for someone who is "possessed" or "crazy". Bauls live like a community, and their main occupation is the propagation of Baul music. But they are the most non-communal of all communities: They have no religion, for they only believe in the religion of music, brotherhood and peace. Predominantly a Hindu movement, the Baul philosophy weaves together different Islamic and Buddhist strains as well.The theme that Bauls deal with in their lyrics is mostly philosophical in the form of allegories on the state of disconnect between the earthly soul and the spiritual world. Often they philosophize on love and the many-splendoured bonds of the heart, subtly revealing the mystery of life, the laws of nature, the decree of destiny and the ultimate union with the divine.
Originally, the Bauls were nonconformist, who rejected the traditional social norms to form a distinct sect that upheld music as their religion. "Baul" is also the name given to the genre of folk music developed by this creative cult. It's easy to identify a Baul singer from his uncut, often coiled hair, saffron robe (alkhalla), necklace of beads made of basil (tulsi) stems, and of course the single-stringed guitar (ektara). Music is their only source of sustenance: They live on whatever they are offered by villagers in return, and travel from place to place, as it were, on a vehicle of ecstasy. Bauls croon from their hearts and pour out their feelings and emotions in their songs. But they never bother to write down their songs. Theirs is essentially an oral tradition, and it is said of Lalan Fakir (1774 -1890), the greatest of all Bauls, that he continued to compose and sing songs for decades without ever stopping to correct them or put them on paper. It was only after his death that people thought of collecting and compiling his rich repertoire.
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