The Creation of Tradition and the Alteration of Social Structure by the Mystic Baul Fakir Lalon Shah

Abstract

This paper investigates how the Bengali poet Fakir Lalon Shah established a separate tradition of his songs and ideas. This research is also relevant to how Lalon's heritage of songs and philosophy has appeared to have formed, innovated, and altered over time. The songs of Lalon, their continued performance, how the songs get performed, and the attitudes of Lalon's devotees and the singers of his songs have all contributed to the development of a specific type of tradition. "a set of practices, normally governed by overtly or tacitly accepted rules and of a ritual or symbolic nature, which seek to inculcate certain values and norms of behaviour by repetition," (Hobsbawm 1983) is how Hobsbawm describes tradition. Fakir Lalon Shah was a notable philosopher, poet, and musician born in Bengal and flourished during the 19th century in what is now Bangladesh. He was known as Fakir Lalon Shah. The Baul tradition, a syncretic form of devotional music that integrates aspects of Sufi Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and indigenous folk beliefs, was started by him. He is known as the originator of the Baul tradition. Lalon Shah founded the Baul tradition and broke radically with his era's prevalent cultural and religious standards when he established it. He was not a follower of traditional organized religions because he considered them limiting and dogmatic. Instead, he emphasized individual spirituality and the quest for the truth inside.