Lalon (Bengali: লালন) also Lalon Sain, Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir or Mahatma Lalon Fakir; (c. 1774–1890), was a Bengali Baul saint, mystic, songwriter, social reformer and secular thinker. In Bengali culture
he has become an icon of religious tolerance and secularism whose songs
inspired and influenced many poets and social and religious thinkers
including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Allen Ginsberg - though, as he "rejected all distinctions of caste and creed", he was both praised and criticized in his lifetime and after his death. His disciples mostly live in Bangladesh and West Bengal. He founded the institute known as Lalon Akhdah in Cheuriya, about 2 km. from Kushtia railway station. He is also regarded as the founder of the Baul music.
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. (see Jāti)
Lalon does not fit the "mystical"
or "spiritual" type who denies all worldly affairs in search of the
soul: he embodies the socially transformative role of sub-contintental 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.
You know about Lalon then Please See The movie MONAR MANUS .
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