Lalon
Bengali spiritual leader and oral philosopher (1772–1890)
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Lalon founded the institute known as Lalon Akhra in Cheuriya, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Kushtia railway station in southwestern Bangladesh. His disciples dwell mostly in Bangladesh and Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam’s Barak Valley. Every year on the occasion of his death anniversary, thousands of his disciples and followers assemble at Lalon Akhra and pay homage to him through celebration and discussion of his songs and philosophy for three days.
In 2004, Lalon was ranked 12 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengali of all time.
Biography
There are few reliable sources for the details of Lalon's early life as he was reticent in revealing his past. Based on the newspapers and essays of the time, Lalon was born in Bharara village in Kushtia District in a low-caste Hindu family. Lalon had no formal education. Uwe Skoda places his birth to Jhenaidah, Bengal Subah.
Sunil Gangopadhyay related in his book "Moner Manush" that Lalon, during a pilgrimage to the temple of Jagannath with others of his native village, contracted smallpox and was abandoned by his companions on the banks of the Kaliganga River. Malam Shah and his wife Matijan, members of the weaver community in a Muslim-populated village, Cheuriya, found him faint and took him to their home to convalesce. While he was growing up, he found his mentor Siraj Sain, a Baul saint of that village.
Lalon lived within the zamindari of the Tagores in Kushtia and had visited the Tagore family. It is said that zamindar Jyotirindranath Tagore sketched the only portrait of Lalon in 1889 in his houseboat on the river Padma. Lalon died at Chheuriya on 17 October 1890 aged 118. The news of his death was first published in the newspaper Gram Barta Prokashika, run by Kangal Harinath. Lalon was buried at the middle of his dwelling place known as his Akhra. Researchers note that Lalon was a close friend of Kangal Harinath, one of the contemporary social reformers and a disciple of Lalon.
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Philosophy
Lalon was against religious conflict and many of his songs mock identity politics that divide communities and generate violence. He even rejected nationalism at the apex of the anti-colonial nationalist movements in the Indian subcontinent. He did not believe in classes or castes, the fragmented, hierarchical society and took a stand against racism. Lalon does not fit the conventional “mystical” or “spiritual” archetype who renounces worldly life in search of the soul; rather, he embodies the socially transformative spirit of subcontinental Bhakti and Sufism. He believed in the power of music to alter the intellectual and emotional state in order to be able to understand and appreciate life itself.
The texts of his songs engage in philosophical discourses of Bengal, continuing Tantric traditions of the Indian subcontinent, particularly Nepal, Bengal and the Gangetic plains. He appropriated various philosophical positions emanating from Hindu, Jainist, Buddhist and Islamic traditions, developing them into a coherent discourse without falling into eclecticism or syncretism. He explicitly identified himself with the Nadiya school, with Advaita Acharya, Nityananda and Chaitanya. He was greatly influenced by the social movement initiated by Chaitanya against differences of caste, creed and religion. His songs reject any absolute standard of right and wrong and show the triviality of any attempt to divide people whether materially or spiritually.
Legacy and depictions in popular culture
In 1963, a mausoleum and research centre were built at the site of his shrine in Kushtia, Bangladesh. Thousands of people come to the shrine (known in Bengali as an Akhra) twice a year, at Dol Purnima in the month of Falgun (February to March) and in October, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death. During these three-day song melas, people, particularly Muslim fakirs and Bauls pay tribute. Among the modern singers of Baul music Farida Parveen and Anusheh Anadil are internationally known for singing Lalon songs. M Shahinoor Rahman's thesis Bengali poet Fakir Lalon Shah: Oral poetry and tradition in the social context of contemporary Bangladesh on his life philosophy is one of the basic work.
The Lalon Shah Bridge crossing the Padma River was named after him in 2004.
A male student's dormitory in Islamic University, Bangladesh at Kushtia is named after him as Lalon Shah Hall.
Film and literature
Lalon has been portrayed in literature, film, television drama and in the theatre. The first biopic of Lalon titled Lalon Fakir (1973) was directed by Syed Hasan Imam. Lalan Fakir, an Indian Bengali-language biographical drama film directed by Shakti Chatterjee released in 1978 and starred Ashim Kumar as Lalon. Allen Ginsberg wrote a poem in 1992 named "After Lalon", where he warned people against the dangers of fame and the attachments to the worldly things.
In 2004, Tanvir Mokammel directed the film Lalon in which Raisul Islam Asad portrayed Lalon.
Prosenjit Chatterjee portrayed Lalan in the Moner Manush, a 2010 Bengali film based on the life and philosophy of Lalon. The film was an adaptation of Sunil Gangopadhyay's biographical novel of the same name. This film directed by Goutam Ghose, won award for the "best feature film on national integration" at the 58th Indian National Film Awards. It also won Best Film prize at the 41st International Film Festival of India held at Goa from 22 Nov to 2 December 2010.