The Baul

The spiritual Baul tradition emphasizes the bond between the spiritual nature of mankind and Mother Nature itself. The mysticism of the Songs & Dances of the Baul Traditon are incorporated in the music of the wind in the leaves of the trees, the rhythm of the sun, moon and stars, the movement of the waves of the seas, the flow of the rivers and the ripples in the ponds of this Earth.

In 1947, when British colonial rule ended, a downsized province of Bengal was partitioned into East Bengal and West Bengal. East Bengal was renamed East Pakistan in 1955, and in 1971 it became Bangladesh.

The Baul Tradition has been declared in 2005 by the United Nations United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Although Bauls constitute only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable.

The word 'Baul' comes from the Sanskrit word 'Vatul,' which means 'mad' or 'eccentric. ' Bauls are wandering minstrels who have been associated with this form of music and dance for centuries.

The Bauls are mystic minstrels living in rural West Bengal, India and Bangladesh. The Baul movement, at its peak in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, has now regained popularity among the rural population of the both West Bengal and Bangladesh. Their music and way of life have influenced a large segment of Bengali culture, and particularly the compositions of Nobel Prize laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Bauls live either near a village or travel from place to place and earn their living from singing to the accompaniment of the ektara, the lute dotara, a simple one-stringed instrument, Khemak and a drum called dubki.

Bauls belong to a devotional tradition, influenced by Hinduism, Vasinavism and Sufism, yet distinctly different from them. Bauls neither identify with any organized religion nor with the caste system, special deities, temples or sacred places. Their emphasis lies on the importance of a person’s physical body as the place where God resides.

Bauls are admired for this freedom from convention as well as their music and poetry. Baul poetry, music, song and dance are devoted to finding humankind’s relationship with God, and to achieving spiritual liberation. Their devotional songs can be traced back to the fifteenth century when they first appeared in Bengali literature.

Baul music represents a particular type of folk song, carrying influences of Hindu bhakti movements as well as the Sufi song. Songs are also used by the spiritual leader to instruct disciples in Baul philosophy, and are transmitted orally from generation to generation.

The language of the songs is continuously modernized thus endowing it with contemporary relevance.

The preservation of the Baul songs and the general context in which they are performed depend mainly on the social and economic situation of their practitioners, the Bauls, who have always been a relatively marginalized group. Moreover, their situation has worsened in recent decades due to the hardship of living.