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?
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)
