Bauls of Bengal

“The self is an oral society in which the present is constantly running a dialogue with the past and the future inside of one skin.”   – David Antin

Knowledge is thus disseminated through ‘the dialogue- the words, the music and the art. Orality, therefore, marks the journey of the speech through memories of generations, changing shapes, colours and even contexts and creates a nexus that becomes a tradition. Through the stories, the ever living memories, the past lives on taking a new course, very much like what Fakir Lalon had said: “to be born in a cosmic rhapsody”.

The word Baul appeared for the first time in the Bengali narrative poetry tradition through the works of 15th-16th century poets Maladhar Basu and Krishnadas Kaviraj. The Baul songs are not lyrics meant to be read or written, these were conceived and transmitted orally to pass on the spiritual messages of the ‘Sahajiya sadhana’ that dates back to the Tantric Buddhist tradition (Vajrayana). The tradition is linked to the Sufi mysticism as well. As Deben Bhattacharya opines, “The Mevlevi Dervish movement, which sprang from Sufism and developed in Turkey under the Persian Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi toward the second half of the thirteenth century, was possible the closest to the ways of the Baul in employing poetry, music, and dance as mediums for prayer.” It is, therefore, quite natural for the Hindu Bauls to sing Fakiri or Darveshi songs and the Muslim Bauls to sing songs on hindu themes or Bhakti tradition. The Baul does not subscribe to any particular  institutional religion. They reside in the twilight zone of the two major religions of India, incorporating the features of both in one residue.

The “God’s vagabonds”, as they are fondly called, believes that the human body is like a birdcage that imprisons the self from uniting with the divine. Only through the knowledge of the body, the self can break free from the imprisonment and embrace the beloved Alekh Snai or Sohoj manush , The Divine. But the path to reach the divine is perilous, as the five senses are treacherous, luring the soul to earthly pleasures, devoid of spirituality:

Losing my senses, I plunged into bodily pleasure

Failed to get rid of the old habits,

Remained entrapped in a world of material charm,

There’s no way out now without the Master’s guidance…

Only the worthy with the help from his Guru  could find the Adhar Manush (The Unattainable).

For the Guru is the helm who  guides his disciple through the hitherto unknown ocean to the divine shore:

Love is a deep blue sea and few

can swim and come ashore,

but that won’t deter real lovers to

set sail on a boat with a broken oar

But it’s wise to keep in mind, as Jalal says, that

you can open a lovelock only in the Guru’s way!

Listen to this song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ3FV0_F7gs

 

Click the following links to know more about Baul tradition –

Baul music – http://bncmusical.co.in/artist-baul.php

banglanatak initiative to safeguard Baul tradition – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MqMMDz1I9Y