Lalon
Encyclopedia
Fakir Lalon Shah also known as Lalon Shah (c. 1774–1890), was a Bangladeshi philosopher poet. His poetry, articulated in songs, are considered classics of the Bangla language. Fakir Lalon Shah lived in the village of Cheuria in the district of Kushtia and to the Upazila(sub district) of Kumarkhali
in Bangladesh
.
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?
or communal identities by a fragmented and hierarchical society. Despite this silence on his origins, communal appropriation of this great politico-philosophical figure has created a controversy regarding whether he is 'Muslim
' or a 'Hindu
' -- a 'sufi' or a follower 'bhakti
' tradition—a 'baul' or a 'fakir
', etc. He is none, as he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities. Lalon sang, “People ask if Lalon Fakir is a Hindu or a Mussalman. Lalon says he himself doesn’t know who he is.”
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. This role is still continued and performed by the poet-singers and philosophers in oral traditions of Bangladesh, a cultural reality of Bangladesh that partly explains the emergence of Bangladesh with distinct identity from Pakistan
back in 1971. 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).
To understand Fakir Lalon Shah is to understand the politics of lifestyle that he practiced. 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. It is a quest we cannot undertake without some prodding assistance, albeit to our well charted ‘roots’, if we have one? Clearly, life is a blessed moment of procreation and an extension of the continuous cycle of Mother Nature which rolls on over, when we know all too well, it is also a process that simply cannot be rolled back.
It is in context of looking for meanings to living, versus that of death which is as an instant, if not completely the end of reasoning, and the probabilities of a life devoid of answers to the future and where it ultimately places us, is the harrowing spectre human beings are condemned to life in his living. This premise of not knowing where ‘everything’ if ever ends is one that significantly dilates the implication and importance of NOW.
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 (a)the Nadia school initiated by 'teen pagol' ( তিন পাগল),implying Adaitacharya, Nityanando 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. This latter phase has given birth to Vaishavism. Nadiya's movement is historically related to Vrindabon, but are two distinct schools. Fakir lalon Shah did not approve the re-appropriation of the popular political movement initiate by Chaitanya against caste, class and patrirachy by the upper caste elite during his time, and ultimately manifesting the decadence of the great bhokti moveet 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 Shankhy 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 2000-3000 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.
(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 subcontinent, particularly Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. In Lalon critically re-appropriated the various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jaina, Buddha 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 mela
s, people, particularly fakirs (Muslim devotees) and bauls (section of Hindu believers) pay tribute to Lalon.
Among the modern singers of Baul music Fardia Parvin and Arup Rahee are known internationally for their songs of lalon.
Kumarkhali
Kumarkhali is a town in Kushtia District in the Khulna Division of southwestern Bangladesh....
in Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
.
Early life
The details of Lalon's early life are made controversial mainly by urban-educated scholars representing communal tendencies among both Hindu and Muslim writers. Lalon also recorded very little information about himself. a result, accounts of Lalon's life are sites of speculative communal claims that has remained till today contradictory and unverifiable. Depending on the source, some claim 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. Another story claims that he is Muslim by birth and his village and family links are still traceable. However, it is true that a Muslim man of the weaver community, Malam Shah, and his wife Matijan took him to their home and nursed him back to life. It is clear, however, that he never revealed his social identity because of his consistent opposition against all forms of communal identity. He refused all his life to be trapped into the politics of identity of any kind. When people, particularly members of the urban the middle class who were already divided into Hindu and Muslim during colonial period, asked about his religion, Lalon mocked them. 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. Lalon Shah married a Muslim woman and set up his ashram in Cheurriya to compose and practise his songs. he was inspired by Shiraj shai.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?
Philosophy
Lalon left no trace of his birth or his 'origin' and remained silent about his past, fearing that he would be cast into class, casteCaste
Caste is an elaborate and complex social system that combines elements of endogamy, occupation, culture, social class, tribal affiliation and political power. It should not be confused with race or social class, e.g. members of different castes in one society may belong to the same race, as in India...
or communal identities by a fragmented and hierarchical society. Despite this silence on his origins, communal appropriation of this great politico-philosophical figure has created a controversy regarding whether he is 'Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
' or a 'Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
' -- a 'sufi' or a follower 'bhakti
Bhakti
In Hinduism Bhakti is religious devotion in the form of active involvement of a devotee in worship of the divine.Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Svayam Bhagavan.Bhakti can be used of either...
' tradition—a 'baul' or a 'fakir
Fakir
The fakir or faqir ; ) Derived from faqr is a Muslim Sufi ascetic in Middle East and South Asia. The Faqirs were wandering Dervishes teaching Islam and living on alms....
', etc. He is none, as he always strove to go beyond all politics of identities. Lalon sang, “People ask if Lalon Fakir is a Hindu or a Mussalman. Lalon says he himself doesn’t know who he is.”
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
Bengal
Bengal is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. Today, it is mainly divided between the sovereign land of People's Republic of Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, although some regions of the previous...
's spiritual movements and depoliticizes the transformative role of 'bhakti' or 'sufi' traditions. This role is still continued and performed by the poet-singers and philosophers in oral traditions of Bangladesh, a cultural reality of Bangladesh that partly explains the emergence of Bangladesh with distinct identity from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
back in 1971. 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).
To understand Fakir Lalon Shah is to understand the politics of lifestyle that he practiced. 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. It is a quest we cannot undertake without some prodding assistance, albeit to our well charted ‘roots’, if we have one? Clearly, life is a blessed moment of procreation and an extension of the continuous cycle of Mother Nature which rolls on over, when we know all too well, it is also a process that simply cannot be rolled back.
It is in context of looking for meanings to living, versus that of death which is as an instant, if not completely the end of reasoning, and the probabilities of a life devoid of answers to the future and where it ultimately places us, is the harrowing spectre human beings are condemned to life in his living. This premise of not knowing where ‘everything’ if ever ends is one that significantly dilates the implication and importance of NOW.
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 (a)the Nadia school initiated by 'teen pagol' ( তিন পাগল),implying Adaitacharya, Nityanando 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. This latter phase has given birth to Vaishavism. Nadiya's movement is historically related to Vrindabon, but are two distinct schools. Fakir lalon Shah did not approve the re-appropriation of the popular political movement initiate by Chaitanya against caste, class and patrirachy by the upper caste elite during his time, and ultimately manifesting the decadence of the great bhokti moveet 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 Shankhy 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 2000-3000 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 ektaraEktara
Ektara is a one-string instrument used in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and Pakistan.thumb||EktaraIn origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger...
(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 subcontinent, particularly Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. In Lalon critically re-appropriated the various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jaina, Buddha 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
Mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or persons. A monument without the interment is a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type of tomb or the tomb may be considered to be within the...
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
Falgun
Falgun is the eleventh month in the नेपाली Nepali calendar বঙ্গাব্দ Bangla Calendar and the Bikram Sambat. This also marks the arrival of spring,the sixth and final season in Nepal and Bangladesh...
(February to March) and in October, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death. During these three-day song mela
Mela
Mela is a Sanskrit word meaning 'gathering' or 'to meet' or a Fair. It is used in the Indian subcontinent for all sizes of gathering and can be religious, commercial, cultural or sports. In rural traditions melas or village fairs were of great importance...
s, people, particularly fakirs (Muslim devotees) and bauls (section of Hindu believers) pay tribute to Lalon.
Among the modern singers of Baul music Fardia Parvin and Arup Rahee are known internationally for their songs of lalon.
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
- http://www.scribd.com/doc/7253135/On-Fakir-Lalon-Shah Farhad mazhar on Fakir Lalon Shah
- http://www.chintaa.com/index.php/chinta/showAerticle/58/english
- http://www.monermanush.net/Articles%20on%20Lalon/carol_baul.html Baul Songs by Carol Salomon Princeton University Press, 1995, pp. 187-208
- http://www.monermanush.net/Articles%20on%20Lalon/carolsalomon.html Carol Salomon (1948 - 2009)