Lalon

Lalon Shah লালন শাহ
Lalon's only portrait sketched during his lifetime by Jyotirindranath Tagore.
Born	c. 1774 Kushtia, Bengal (present-day Bangladesh)
Died	17 October 1890 (About 116) Cheuriya, Kushtia, Bengal
Resting place	Cheuriya, Kushtia, Bengal
Influenced by	Siraj Sain
Influenced	Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Gagan Harkara, Allen Ginsberg
Title	Fakir
Spouse	Bishokha

Fakir Lalon Shah (Bengali: ফকির লালন শাহ, also known as Lalon Shah; c. 1774–1890), was a Bengali Baul saint, mystic poet, song composer, social reformer and secular thinker. His works and ideology have an immense influence on Bengali culture. He has become an iconic figure for preaching religious tolerance and secularism. His philosophy, articulated in songs, has inspired and influenced many poets and social and religious thinkers including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Allen Ginsberg etc. His disciples live in large portion across Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. As he preached religious tolerance and "rejected all distinctions of caste and creed", he was both praised and criticized in his lifetime as well as after his death. His legacy endures also in the akhdah, known as Lalon akhdah he founded in Chheuriya, Kushtia. Few records of Lalon's private life survive as he did not wanted, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, religious beliefs.

Early life

"Everyone asks: "Lalan, what's your religion in this world?"
Lalan answers: "How does religion look?"
I've never laid eyes on it.
Some wear malas [Hindu rosaries] around their necks,
some tasbis [Muslim rosaries], and so people say
they've got different religions.
But do you bear the sign of your religion
when you come or when you go?"

“

”

— Lalon

The details of Lalon's early life are made controversial mainly by urban-educated scholars. Lalon also recorded very little information about himself. A result, accounts of Lalon's life has remained till today contradictory and unverifiable. Depending on the source, mostly claimed that Lalon was born of Hindu Kayastha parents and during a pilgrimage to Murshidabad with other Bauls of his native village, he contracted a virulent type of small pox and was abandoned by his companions in a precarious condition on the banks of the Ganges. Then, a Muslim man of the weaver community, Malam Shah, and his wife Matijan took him to their home and nursed him back to life. They gave Lalon a land to live in a muslim populated village, where he founded his Akhra (musical group). Lalon converted himself to a Muslim and married a Muslim woman and set up his Akhra in Cheuriya to compose and practice his songs. He was inspired by Shiraj Shai, a Baul musician of that village. Lalon was against the religious conflict and violence and always hold a common space for all religions. Many of his songs make mockery of those who degraded themselves to identity politics that divides a community, thereby creating conditions that generate communal conflict and violence. It is important that his intention is retained in any attempt to reconstruct a historiography of this great saint who even refused to be nationalist during the apex of the anti-colonial nationalist movements in the Indian subcontinent. With regard to identity the following song is fairly well known among his many other similar articulations:

Says Lalon: The shape of religion eludes my vision.

They are curious to know what Lalon's faith is,
Circumcision tells a Muslim from others,
But what is the mark of his woman?
The Brahman is known by his thread,
How do I tell who is a Brahmani?

— Lalon

Philosophy

How does the Unknown bird go,
into the cage and out again,
Could I but seize it,
I would put the fetters of my heart,
around its feet.
The cage has eight rooms and nine closed doors;
From time to time fire flares out;.
Above there is a main room,
The mirror-chamber
O my heart, you are set on the affaires
of the cage;
(Yet) the cage was made by you,
made with green bamboo;
The cage may fall apart any day.
Lalon says,
The bird may work its way out
and fly off somewhere.

“

”

— Lalon's song translated by Brother James

Lalon always remained silent about his past. He left no trace of his origin. He did not believe in classes or castes of the fragmented and hierarchical society. He had the strongest stand against racism. Lalon does not fit into the construction of the so called 'bauls' or 'fakirs' as a mystical or spiritual types who deny all worldly affairs in desperate search for a mystical ecstasy of the soul. Such construction is very elite, middle class, and premised on the divide between 'modern' and 'spiritual' world. It also conveniently ignores the political and social aspects of Bengal's spiritual movements and depoliticizes the transformative role of 'bhakti' or 'sufi' traditions. Depicting Lalon as 'baul shomrat' (the Emperor of the Bauls) as projected by elite marginalizes Lalon as a person belonging to a peripheral movement, an outcast, as if he is not a living presence and increasingly occupying the central cultural, intellectual and political space in both side of the border between Bangladesh and India (West Bengal).

He never was a celebrator of the state of nothingness sometime associated the generic folk cultural movemets known as 'baul'. His position should not be construed, as a willing suspension of disbelief, nor a reckless abandonment of responsibility or that of becoming inordinately fatalistic. It is a living quest to go back to the dynamics of where it all began: to our infancy as much as the first moments of creation. Lalon philosophy has done nothing but providing spiritual guidance; helping the purity of life to surface, making humanity prevail.

Lalon is a completely new genre of songs and philosophy. Many claim that Lalon Geeti or Lalon songs fall under the Baul genre even though the fundamentals of the two philosophies are different. Lalon philosophy dictates differently, accommodating the earthly notions into the process of searching the divine enlightenment. He believed in the power of music as a tool to reach the intellectual and emotional state to be able to understand and appreciate life itself and its Creator. He believed in achieving the divine mental state and finding true meaning of life through appreciating the gifts life has to offer and accepting them. As a result, he settled in the village Cheuria, Kushtia, and even got married. His thoughts influenced countless people, including his parents and once mentor Siraj Shai, turning them into his disciples. Despite not having any formal education, his literature has influenced even the most educated minds throughout time; including the American poet Allen Ginsberg.

Works

Lalon composed numerous songs and poems, which describe his philosophy. Among his most popular songs are Sob Loke Koy Lalon Ki Jat Songsare, Khachar Bhitor Auchin Pakhi, Jat Gelo Jat Gelo Bole, Dekhna Mon Jhokmariay Duniyadari, Paare Loye Jao Amay, Milon Hobe Koto Dine, Aar Amare Marishne Maa, Tin Pagoler Holo Mela, etc.

The songs of Lalon give subliminal exposures to the reality/truth that lies beyond our material plane/realism. They give a feel of the indescribable. To an engrossed listener, his songs briefly open and close a narrow passage to peep through to the other world beyond the opaque glass ceiling of this world. Lalon sublimates the findings of the principal schools of his time the Nadiya school initiated by Teen pagol (তিন পাগল), implying Advaita Acharya, Nityananda and Chaitanya. This school is different from the Achinta-Vedavedbad of Lord Chaitanya (the anitonomous realism of individual soul and Supersoul, both of which eternally coexist) developed during the post-Nadiya phase of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This latter phase has given birth to Vaishnavism. Nadiya's movement is historically related to Vrindaban, but are two distinct schools. Lalon did not approve the re-appropriation of the popular political movement initiate by Chaitanya against caste, class and patriarchy by the upper caste elite during his time, and ultimately manifesting the decadence of the great Bhakti movement of Bengal. He always insisted on the 'Nadiya's discourse (নদিয়া'র ভাব)-- the philosophy of Nadiya's Porimondol (great popular circle of Nadiya).

Another major influence of Lalon is Islam. He approached and appropriated Islam from his Nadiya perspective providing fascinating interpretation of prophets and prophethood. These are done without forgetting his premises such as Jain, Buddhists and Samkhya philosophy. It was both a critique and appropriation. This phase of his discourse is generally known as Nobitattya (the philosophy of wisdom).

Lalon always kept silent about his origin so that he does not get typecast into any particular religious group. He was observant of the social conditions around, and this reflects through his songs, which spoke of day to day problems, in his simple yet deeply moving language. It is said that he had composed about 10,000 songs of which 2,000-3,000 can be tracked down today while others are lost in time and hearts of his numerous followers. Most of his followers could not read or write and so unluckily for the lovers of Baul, very few of his songs are found in written form. Lalon had no formal education as such but his songs can educate the most educated of minds throughout the world. Long before free thinkers around the globe started thinking of a classless society, Lalon had already composed around 1000 songs on that theme.

Lalon's songs tersely refute any absolute standard of 'right and wrong', which claims to pass the test of time. His songs show the triviality of any attempt to divide people both materially or spiritually.

Legacy

Lalon's philosophical expression was based in oral and expressed in songs and musical compositions using instruments that could be made by any rural households from materials available at home: an ektara (one-string musical instrument) and a dugi (hand drum). The texts of the songs was explicitly written to engage in the philosophical discourses of Bengal continuing since Tantric traditions of the Indian subcontinent, particularly Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. In Lalon critically re-appropriated the various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jainist, Buddhist and Islamic traditions, developing them into a coherent discourse without falling into the mixes of being syncretic. Nevertheless he explicitly claimed his belonging to the great 'bhab' (discourse) of Nadiya—led by 'ti pagol' (three passionate spiritual persons); they are Chaitanya, Nityananda and Adaitacharya.

In 1963, a mausoleum and a research centre were built at the site of his shrine, the place of knowledge-practices. Thousands of people come to the shrine known in Bengali as Akhra twice a year, Dol Purnima, in the month of Falgun (February to March) and in October, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death. During these three-day song melas, people, particularly fakirs (Muslim devotees) and bauls (section of Hindu believers) pay tribute to Lalon.

Among the modern singers of Baul music Farida Parveen and Arup Rahee are known internationally for their songs of Lalon.

Gallery

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References

• Choudhury, A. A. (1992). Lalon Shah ISBN 984-07-2597-1
• Urban, H. B. (2001), Songs of Ecstasy: Tantric and Devotional Songs from Colonial Bengal, Oxford University Press (published 22 November 2001), ISBN 978-0195139013
• Tagore, R.; Stewart, T. K. (translator); Twichell, C. (translator) (2003), Rabindranath Tagore: Lover of God, Lannan Literary Selections, Copper Canyon Press (published 1 November 2003), ISBN 978-1556591969
• Hosaain, A. I. (2009). Lalon Shah: The Great Poet ISBN 984-70090-0021-8
• Beurle, Klaus, Der Mensch des Herzens. Eine theologische Deutung von Gedichten des bengalischen Mystikers Lalon Shah (St. Ottilien, EOS, 2011).

Further reading

• Enamul Haq, Muhammad(1975), A history of Sufism in Bangla, Asiatic Society, Dhaka.
• Qureshi, Mahmud Shah(1977), Poems Mystiques Bengalis. Chants Bauls Unesco. Paris.
• Siddiqi, Ashraf(1977), Our Folklore Our Heritage, Dhaka.
• Karim, Anwarul(1980), The Bauls of Bangladesh. Lalon Academy, Kushtia.
• Capwell, Charles(1986), The Music of the Bauls of Bengla. Kent State University Press, USA 1986.
• Bandyopadhyay, Pranab(1989), Bauls of Bengal. Firma KLM Pvt, Ltd., calcutta.
• Mcdaniel, June(1989), The Madness of the Saints. Chicago.
• Sarkar, R. M.(1990), Bauls of Bengal. New Delhi.
• Brahma, Tripti(1990), Lalon : His Melodies. Calcutta.
• Gupta, Samir Das(2000), Songs of Lalon. Sahitya Prakash, Dhaka.
• Karim, Anwarul(2001), Rabindranath O Banglar Baul (in Bengali), Dhaka.
• Choudhury, Abul Ahsan(editor)(2008), Lalon Samagra, Pathak Samabesh.

External links

• Lalon Fakir: Saint Lalon by Machizo Documentary on Lalon's Life and Philosophy. (UnnayanTV)
• Lyric of pabe samanye ki tar dekha in Manipuri translated by Konthoujam Suranjit
• After Lalon video of a reading done by Allen Ginsberg
• [4] Farhad mazhar on Fakir Lalon Shah
• http://www.chintaa.com/index.php/chinta/showAerticle/58/english
• [5] Baul Songs by Carol Salomon Princeton University Press, 1995, pp. 187-208
• [6] Carol Salomon (1948 - 2009)