| Lalon Shah | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1774 Kushtia, Bangladesh |
| Died | 1890 |
| Title | Fakir |
| Religion | converted Muslim |
Fakir Lalon Shah (Bangla: ফকির লালন শাহ), 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.
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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 Shah converted himself to a Muslim and married a Muslim woman and set up his Akhra in Cheurriya to compose and practise 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 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. ( http://lalonfakir.net/ )
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.
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 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 melas, 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.