P.M. SERAJUL ISLAM, OUR CORRESPONDENT KUSHTIA:

TheThree-day Lalon festival (Saron utsob) which began here on March 5 on the occasion of 133rd death anniversary of the great Baul Sufi mystic, composer and performer of Baul songs Lalon Shah, concluded (Today) 6 March at Lalon premises amidst great festivity. On the occasion,  Lalon Academy organised a Three-day seminar,  discussion meeting on the great mystic who has practically ruled the mystic world for the last two hundred years and still his popularity is gaining everyday due to his iconoclastic approach against cast system and religious intolerance.

Basically Fakir Lalon Sha origin is not known. No one knows where he was born, who were his parents, which religious, ethnic or cultural communities he belonged to.  A farmer found him in the Kaliganga river, a branch of Ganga, used to flow through Kushtia, but now dried out; he was a child of fifteen or sixteen years of age when he was found, nearly dying from smallpox when Malam, a farmer/weaver in Cheuria village, Kumarkhali under Kushtia, discovered him early in the morning lying between the muddy edge of the river and the splash of the water flow. Malam called his wife Matijan and took Lalon to their house, treated and took care of him and brought him to life. That his life began by surviving in between soil and water, in between elemental realities of material being but as a nonexistence, arouses very deep symbolic meaning among Lalon’s followers. That is the reason why the symbolic narrative about the origin of Lalon became integral to Lalon’s philosophy as well as his birth is both known and unknown. It is known because he came from water, from Kaliganga River, but yet unknown since he was almost dead and what Malam received was a being hanging in between the mud in the river and splashing water. Except for the above, the obvious ‘real story’ of his ‘birth’, nothing is known about him.

Thousands of bauls and their followers together with the members of huge public this year came to the shrine (Akkra bari) to pay homage to their great spiritual leader and stayed there five uninterrupted days and nights singing, praying which the bauls term as sadhu sheba or service to saints. But the image it gave was far from the traditional baul mela or festival although the presence of the bauls was not insignificant.

The festival spread over four acres of land and it covered areas outside shrine premises and over the dead Kaliganga River beside the historic Mohini Mills in the shrine.
The bauls are accommodated in the ground floor of a big two-storied building to avoid rain thundershower or the sun. A limited number of bauls are around the shrine under the open sky. And a part of Lalon mela was organised in the open space on the western side of the Lalon shrine.The Awami league government constructed a huge cultural complex at Lalon Academy for preservation of baul and Lalon culture.

It has included a four-storied building which is being utilized as library, archives, museum and office room, the other two-storied building is used as resort for bauls and auditorium. The government spent Tk 3 crore and 54 lakh for the complex.
Lalon Shah, the great baul spiritual leader spoke of humanism and unity of all human beings setting aside cast and class distinctions. It is learnt that Rabindranath Tagore was drawn towards him such unique ideals. His songs offering known in Bangla as Gitanjali bears ample evidence of such influence.

Fakir Babu sha, a devoted Baul singer said, ‘since last 30 years I am singing. I love Lalon’s songs very much. I found God’s word and human spirit in song-scripts. I have invested my life to this way.

Young baul Nazrul sha said, ‘since last 15 years I am singing. I am impressed by the songs. Not for musical rethym, I love Shigee and for his spiritual deepness and expression of goodness.’

The whole academy premises were beautifully decorated and an exhibition of folk arts and crafts. The folk games were also arranged in this connection.

Local law maker Mahabubul Alam Hanif inaugurated the function on the first day as chief guest, while the deputy commissioner of Kushtia Sydul Islam is scheduled to attend the function as chief on the concluding day.