Baul of fire By Binayak & Ilina Sen Story Dated: Monday, January 27, 2014
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?tabId=13&programId=10350717&categoryId=-1073908161&contentId=16037335&BV_ID=@@@http:// Illustration: Bhaskaran It is that time of the year again when rural Bengal (both in West Bengal and Bangladesh) comes alive with the Baul melas. It coincides with Makar sankranti, which is celebrated by preparing a variety of *pitha*(rice-based sweets and savouries) at home and also by taking part in Baul gatherings. Birbhum and Nadia in West Bengal and Kushtia and Jessore in Bangladesh play host to the best Baul gatherings. Other major gatherings close to Kolkata are the Poush mela and Kenduli mela, which take place near Santiniketan, and the Sati Mayer mela at Ghoshpara in Nadia. In Bangladesh, the Lalan mela held at Kushtia, the birthplace of Lalan Phakir, the founder of the Baul sect, is known far and wide. Lalan and the Baul sect are deeply rooted in the composite culture of Bengal. They have upheld tolerance and plurality through times of communal carnage and division. Living in 18th century Bengal and standing at the crossroads of Tantrik, Vaishnavite and Islamic cultures, Lalan wrote and sang about an accessible and immediate divinity that was connected to ordinary people. Like Kabir, but in a different time and place, Lalan's life lays claim to both the Hindu and Muslim traditions. His followers believed in the ideals of community life, gender equity and uncompromising love for the divinity as well as for one another. These ideals, however, were not always immediately achieved. The book *Baulsphere* documents the day-to-day life in the Baul *akharas*(communities) and reveals how divisive values like jealousy and possessiveness often coloured it. Baul music is sung to the accompaniment of the stringed ektara and is often multilayered in its meaning. Many of the lyrics written by Lalan and his mentor Shiraj Sai are still sung to this day and reveal newer meanings to its listeners. In one of his best known songs, *Shob Loke Koy Lalan Ke Jaat Sansare,*Lalan denounces the differences created on the basis of caste and creed, and asserts the basic unity of the human experience at the most basic level. He also makes a deeply penetrating comment on the patriarchy inherent in social structures like the family, for those who care to understand. The following lines strike at the roots of the women's marginalisation issue. *Sunnat dile hoy musalman,Nari jatir ki ba bidhanBamun chini paitar promanBamni chinbi kemone...* (A man becomes a confirmed Muslim through sunnat (circumcision), but how do we recognise a (Muslim) woman? A Brahmin man can be recognised because of his sacred thread, how do we recognise a Brahmin woman?) It is obvious that women have no independent validity in a patriarchal society. Their lives make sense only in the context of the men who 'own' them. That Lalan was so clear on this issue 200 years ago fills us with amazement. His commitment to gender justice was theoretical as well as practical. Lalan's followers tried to practise gender equity. But, of course, this was not easy in our society. Even in terms of noted singers of Baul music, men outnumber women, although Kalidasi Adhikary among the old guard and Parvati Baul among the newer generation have achieved recognition as prominent women Baul singers. edi...@the-week.com -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to greenyouth+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to greenyouth@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
