The Aesthetic Asceticism of the Mad

Abstract

The Bauls of Bangladesh, West Bengal, and other parts of India are a distinct ascetic sect that practices spirituality through songs, music, and poetry that were passed down orally from a teacher (Guru) to a disciple (Shirsha). Their ideology is a mix of yogic-tantric practices of Buddhist Sahajiya, Vaishnavism Sahajiya, and later Sufi thoughts. Bauls are often called a heretic sect because of their rejection of institutionalized religion, consumerism, society, and, for many Bauls, even marriage. Baul songs and spirituality emphasize the search for the connection between man and the Divine and love and symbolize the Bengali folk identity. In this paper, placing Baulism within the Anthropology of Art vs. Aesthetics discourse, I show how Baul songs, and their lifestyle can be both. I discuss the rising appropriation of Baul folk music and aesthetics by modern media and in capitalist spaces and how it started to gain traction when the elite society started to acknowledge Bengali folk music. Baul giti (song) is an established genre of music, and they tend to mediate between both art while providing aesthetic appreciation. With the rise of village core aesthetics and romanticization, their music, style, and philosophy have found new spaces in media, fashion, and business.