Report on

Fakir Lalon
Shah
North South University
Department of History & Philosophy
Bangladesh History and Culture

Contents
Fakir Lalon shah..........................................................................................................................................3
Philosophy...............................................................................................................................................4
Works......................................................................................................................................................5
Popular songs include:.........................................................................................................................5
Legacy and depictions in popular culture............................................................................................5
Film and literature...............................................................................................................................6
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6

Fakir Lalon shah

To introduce, much less summarize, Fakir Lalon Shah's life and career would be an impossible
task (c. 1772-1890). Today in Bangladesh, Lalon is celebrated, glorified, and even commodified
and corporatized as a result of his unusual status as a figure known for orally writing thousands
of songs in Bengali despite coming from an impoverished peasant class background and having
no formal education. Both in the country's rural and metropolitan areas, he has amassed a large
number of followers, listeners, and lovers.

However, the details surrounding Lalon's birth remain unknown. But at a time when Bengal was
colonized by the British, a region called Chheunriya, near the town of Kushtia in Bangladesh,
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remained the continuous site of Lalon's life-practices. The fact that Lalon passed away on
October 17, 1890, is now common knowledge (the Bengali date is Kartik 01, 1297). According
to an article written in the November 1890 issue of the Kushtia-based magazine Hitakari, Lalon's
students and he themselves were mute on the topics of his birth and identity after he passed
away, making it difficult to uncover biographical information about Lalon.
Silence is not pointless. That silence shows Lalon's strong resistance to—and highly
emancipatory preference for abolishing—all forms and forces of identity politics that strengthen
caste, religion, class, and gender oppression. 

Lalon also performs sadhana, an indigenous constellation of severe Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic,
and Jainist rituals. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, Lalon's songs and practices express and
enact complex interactions among some components of the Buddhist Shahajiya path, Guadia
Vaishnavism, and even the Kartabhaja, but Lalon defies and extends beyond either eclectic
epistemological zodiacs or syncretic closes.

In certain circles, Fakir Lalon Shah's philosophical forebears include radical luminaries like
Kabir, Chandidas, Nanak, and Tukaram. They have intriguing and informative correspondences.
Lalon stands apart from his predecessors.

To understand Lalon's work, we must consider the Nadia (now a district in West Bengal, India)
school of thought, a social and oppositional movement led by a trio of radical 15th century
figures like Chaitanya (1486-1534), Nityananda (1474-1540), and Advaita Acharya (1434-1559),
who denounced the caste system and other forms of discrimination. Alauddin Hussain Shah,
whose Islam matched the movement, propelled it throughout Bengal. In his Manasamangal
Kavya, Vijay Gupta compared Sultan Alauddin Hussain Shah to Arjuna.

Lalon calls those three figures "tin pagols" in his lyrics, emphasizing his close relationship with
them. But Lalon carves out his own territory and possibly marks the height of the tin-pagol
tradition in colonial Bengal by pointing out the fundamental contradictions and inherent
inconsistencies of repressive institutions like casteism, communalism, and patriarchy in his
songs. Lalon famously asked, "If a Brahmin male is known by the thread he wears, how is a
woman known?" "How should you mark a woman?". Rabindranath Tagore and Kazi Nazrul
Islam both admired and supported Lalon's interventionist and emancipatory interrogations. Lalon
"inspired" American Beat and radical Buddhist poet Allen Ginsberg, who exoticized and
Orientalized Lalon.

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Thus, for Lalon, knowing the body is to know the self, nature, and even the universe, as the self
is constructed corporeally, dissolving the subject-object divide and enacting the embodied One.
"At the end, the One remains," Lalon declares in a mathematically inspired song. The One is
with the many. Lalon now sees language as a corporeal, geographical, and social phenomenon,
highlighting its boundaries and the power of silence. Lalon rejects transcendentalism and
Western epistemological closure. Finally, Lalon's "humanism" is more than anthropocentric
because his embodied One includes all living beings and life-forms all of Nature. Honoring
Lalon today means unsettled and even combating and destroying oppressive structures and
systems like capitalism and colonialism that continue to harm nature, humanity, and the body.

Philosophy
Many of Lalon's songs poke fun at identity politics, which he saw as a source of division and
violence, because of his stance against religious conflict. Even at the height of anti-colonial
nationalist movements in India, he remained unconvinced by nationalism. He opposed racism
and the stratification of society, for which he had little tolerance.   Lalon is an embodiment of the
socially transformational role of bhakti and sufism on the subcontinent, yet he is not the
stereotypical "mystical" or "spiritual" type who rejects all worldly things in quest of the soul. He
thought that music could help one's mind and heart open up so that one could better comprehend
and appreciate life.

His song lyrics reflect the philosophical discourses of Bengal while also carrying on the Tantric
traditions of the Indian subcontinent, especially those of Nepal, Bengal, and the Gangetic plains.
He adopted many philosophical tenets from the Hindu, Jainist, Buddhist, and Islamic traditions,
integrating them into a unified discourse without resorting to eclecticism or syncretism. He
openly declared his allegiance to Advaita Acharya, Nityananda, and Chaitanya of the Nadiya
school. The social movement Chaitanya began to eliminate distinctions between people based on
their caste, creed, or religion had a profound impact on him. His music demonstrates the futility
of attempting to divide people along material or spiritual lines, and he rejects the existence of
any objective standard of right and wrong.
Works
Lalon wrote several philosophical songs and poems. Lalon wrote 2,000–10,000 songs, but only
800 are real. [24] His songs were passed down verbally and copied by his disciples. Most of his
followers could not read or write, so few of his songs are written.  Prabasi, Kolkata's monthly
magazine, featured Lalon song by Rabindranath Tagore. 

Popular songs include:

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  Shob Loke Koy Lalon Ki Jat Shongshare,
 Khachar Bhitor Ochin Pakhi kyamne ashejaay,
 Jat Gelo Jat Gelo Bole,
 Jhokmariay Duniyadari Dekhna,
 Pare Loye Jao Amai,
 Milon Hobe Koto Dine
 Ar Amare Marishne Ma,
 Tin Pagoler Holo Mela
 Dhonno Boli Tare
 Emon Jonom Aar Ki Hobe
Lalon's tracks seek an unreal reality. He observed societal realities and wrote basic but powerful
songs about daily issues. His ideology was presented through songs and musical compositions
employing folk instruments like the ektara and duggi, which could be created at home (drum).
Baul sects mostly sang Lalon songs. Established vocalists reached urban Bangladeshis after
independence. Many started employing instruments other than the ektara and baya. To appeal to
urbanites, some used classical bases.
Farida Parveen, a famous Lalon singer, says the words' pronunciations were polished to clarify
their meanings, whereas the bauls' pronunciations are likely local.

Legacy and depictions in popular culture

His shrine at Kushtia, Bangladesh, received a mausoleum and study center in 1963. At Dol
Purnima in Falgun (February to March) and his death anniversary in October, thousands of
Bengalis visit the shrine, known as an Akhra. Muslim fakirs and Bauls honor these three-day
song melas. Modern Baul singers Farida Parveen and Anusheh Anadil are famous 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 essential.The
2004 Padma River Lalon Shah Bridge was named after him.
Lalon Shah Hall, a men's dormitory of Islamic University, Bangladesh in Kushtia, is named after
him.

Film and literature

Lalon has been depicted in a variety of mediums, including literature, film, television drama, and
the stage. Syed Hasan Imam was the director of Lalon Fakir (1973), the first film adaptation of
Lalon's life.  Ashim Kumar portrayed Lalon in the Indian biographical drama film Lalan Fakir,

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which was released in 1978 and directed by Shakti Chatterjee. The film was in Bengali language.
[31] In the poem "After Lalon," which Allen Ginsberg wrote in 1992, the author cautions readers
against the perils of fame and the risks of becoming attached to the things of this world. 
In the film Lalon, which was directed by Tanvir Mokammel and released in 2004, Raisul Islam
Asad played the title role.In the Bengali movie "Moner Manush" from 2010, which is based on
the life and philosophies of Lalon, Prosenjit Chatterjee played the role of Lalan.

The film was based on Sunil Gangopadhyay's autobiographical novel of the same name, which
was adapted into the film. At the 58th Indian National Film Awards, this feature film directed by
Goutam Ghose took home the trophy for "best feature film on national unity."  Additionally, it
was awarded the prize for Best Film at the 41st International Film Festival of India, which took
place in Goa from November 22nd to December 2nd of 2010.

Conclusion
Lalon is everlasting, his ideology is extremely powerful, and his music is priceless. His message
is consistently timely. Lalon Shah aimed to promote the idea that all people are created equally
during his whole life. Religious strife ought to be avoided since it endangers human life. He
personally subscribed to humanism. Because of this, he wrote several songs that supported
humanism. On the anniversary of his passing, thousands of his admirers and adherents
congregate in Lalon Akhrah to honor the late guru by celebrating and debating his music and
ideas for three days.

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