Bauls of Bengal : article by Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay (Frontline Magazine)

IN rural West Bengal, they can still be seen, wandering from village to village, singing songs for a few rupees, and maybe food. They are Bauls - itinerant minstrels living on the periphery of society, watching it from outside, objectively yet not dispassionately, and incorporating what they see in their lyrics (sometimes with humour, but always with a profound spiritual message). The word Baul comes from the Sanskrit word batul, which means mad, but not in a pejorative sense. In fact, their madness stems from love of the `Infinite Self' they believe to be present in every human being. They are a kind of grassroots mystics.

The impact of these singers/songwriters is not restricted to rural Bengal. Through their simple tunes, rudimentary instruments and allegorical lyrics, they have captured the imagination of the world and have made a major impact on the international cultural scene. The most famous living Baul, Purna Das, even found a place on the cover of Bob Dylan's 1968 album John Wesley Harding. 

Scholars have traced the roots of the Baul tradition and its popularity to the Bhakti Movement of Kabir, Nanak, Meerabai, Gondol, and so on, which swept the cultural scene of India in the Middle Ages, drawing upon the monotheism and egalitarianism of Islam, the love songs of Sufi mystics and, of course, the Hindu Vaishnav tradition. Their main musical instruments are theektara and the dotara (single and double string strumming instruments) and the khole, thekartal and the dugdugi (rudimentary percussions).

Rabindranath Tagore recognised the philosophy of the Bauls and the beauty of the songs and through his works made them acceptable to the Bhadralok (Bengali gentleman). In his youth, Tagore befriended some Bauls, notably Lalan Fakir, and composed a number of songs to be sung in the Baul style. In many of his plays, there are characters representing the `Baul'leitmotif - not only in songs, but also in outlook and appearance.

Bauls defy all social conventions, religious dogmas and caste taboos; they do not recognise traditional deities or conventional rituals. For instance, Lalan Fakir, in one of his oft-quoted songs, talks about the futility of caste distinctions:

Everyone asks what is your caste, Lalan? 
Says Lalan, what test to apply? 
A Muslim man can be told apart from Hindus 
Because of circumcision. 
But what about their women folk? 
A Brahmin you can identify by his sacred thread 
But what about a Brahmin woman?

The words strike at the root of religious bigotry and fundamentalism, caste prejudices and gender biases, and uphold the unity of humankind. This is a common trait of all sects of Bauls, differently known as Bairiagi, Sahajiya, Darbesh, Sain, and so on. All of them believe in the `God within' and to approach Him they need a guide, called a guru. 

courtesy : Frontline Magazine archives (2005)