Songs of Dissent and Consciousness: Pronouncements of the Bauls of Rural Bengal

Uttaran Dutta,Panchali Banerjee,Samya Srimany,Priyam Ghosal,Soham Ghosh,Sahana Mukherjee

doi:10.3390/rel12111018

Abstract

Bauls, the wandering minstrels of rural Bengal (of both Bangladesh and India), are a socio-religiously marginalized cultural group. While the ritualistic practices and spiritual discourses of the Bauls have received scholarly attention, scholarship on Bauls’ songs about material and communicative adversities and their emancipatory visions is lacking. Bauls’ performances and discourses are precursors to envisioning alternative emancipatory possibilities that question dominant intolerances, oppressions, and exploitations. This article documents and reflects on the works of two contemporary Bauls—Shah Abdul Karim and Manimohan Das. Through their songs and performances, they (i) question the power structure and legitimize the sufferings and struggles of the downtrodden, and (ii) seek to raise societal consciousness in imagining a free and just society.

Highlights

Tive adversities and their emancipatory visions is lacking
Scott’s ‘hidden transcripts’, and Freirean perspectives, this paper examines the songs of the two contemporary Bauls to examine how their pronouncements (i) illustrate situated adversities and disparities, as well as the negotiations of the under‐
This paper presents the songs and discourses of two contemporary Bauls–Shah Abdul Karim and Manimohan Das, who composed and performed during 20th and 21st centuries, and raised their voices against existing forms of domination and exploitation, to communicate their dreams of an emancipated and lib‐

Summary

Introduction

Tive adversities and their emancipatory visions is lacking. Bauls’ performances and discourses are precursors to envisioning alternative emancipatory possibilities that question dominant intolerances, oppressions, and exploitations. Rary Bauls—Shah Abdul Karim and Manimohan Das. rary Bauls—Shah Abdul Karim and Manimohan Das Through their songs and performances, they (i) question the power structure and legitimize the sufferings and struggles of the downtrodden, and (ii) seek to raise societal consciousness in imagining a free and just society. The contemplative poets are they who sang the songs of tattwas, In my songs, I portray images of people’s misery and grief, And, the demands of the famished, Karim wants a peaceful co‐existence. The poets, performers, and followers that belong to Hindu and Muslim societies are called Bauls and Fakirs, respectively; but in general, the term Baul is used to represent Bauls, Fakirs, and practitioners of similar spiritual traditions.

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