Sufism, palagaan, political conflict and Baul Abul Sarkar

‘Amar saradeho kheyogo mati' (O soil, take my whole body), ‘Amar babar mukhe prothom jedin shunechhilam gaan' (The day I first heard my father singing)’ and ‘Ami tomat duti chokhe duti tara hoye thakbo' (I will be the apples of your eyes)… These songs sung by Andrew Kishore, have become immortal to the generation of the early 80s and 90s. The lyrics and melody of these songs still touch and yearn. These timeless songs are from the Bangla movie ‘Nayoner Alo’ made in 1984. Many of the 80s and 90s generations can remember this film even today.

This film mainly highlights a partial aspect of how the family of a baul is being oppressed due to the local political situation. The story perfectly described the common scenario of village politics where the influential class (matbar, jotdar, and morol) politically set everyone in society against the baul’s family in the name of protecting religion. This summary of 'Nayoner Alo' is not just a story, but also a hidden picture of how ideological differences have been politically used in this land for centuries, dressed up as religious issues.

Recently, there has been a debate in the country for several months over the appointment of music teachers in primary schools. The notification regarding the appointment of music teachers in primary education institutions has sparked widespread anger among religious fundamentalists and in the face of objections, the government later suspended the decision to appoint music teachers. While this issue was ongoing, the arrest of Baul Abul Sarkar for insulting Allah has added fuel to the fire.

After the arrest of the baul and palagaan artist, fundamentalists attacked his home, assaulted his fellow bauls, and created an obstruction of medical care for the injured in the attack. Extremely difficult times have fallen upon the family of Baul artist Abul Sarkar, who was arrested on charges of insulting Allah.

His daughter Inima Roshni has drawn everyone's attention with an emotional status on the social media platform Facebook, expressing her insecurity. Baul Abul Sarkar allegedly made insulting comments on Allah at a singing event of 'Khala Paglir Mela' in Jabra area of Ghior in Manikganj on November 4. When the video of the incident went viral on social media, it sparked intense criticism.

Then, on the night of November 19, the Manikganj District Detective Branch (DB) picked up Abul Sarkar from a music event in Madaripur. The next day, the plaintiff Mufti Md. Abdullah filed a case at Ghior police station and Abul Sarker was sent to jail.

Although it seems like a common incident of insulting religion, the statements of the locals and eyewitnesses reveal that this accusation of insulting religion is just a political tool. Abul Sarkar had to be subjected to such harassment because of his political position.

The matter needs to be clarified. The incident occurred in Manikganj district, which is one of the fertile grounds for folk culture practice in Bangladesh. Many artists of Palagaan, Kabigaan, and Bichargaan of this district have gained fame across the country. One of the famous Baul artist Hakim Ali Gayen was born in the district and Natacharya Selim Al Din founded the village theater group 'Hakim Ali Gayen Theater' to tribute him. The people in this area have been practicing Kabigaan, Palagaan, and mysticism for hundreds of years.

Palagaan's arguments, logic, style, and religious elements in it and religious presentation are well known in this area. Thus, Abul Sarkar's style of presentation is not new in this area, nor unfamiliar and strange to people. So why all of a sudden this excitement regarding his presentation? Abul Sarkar has thousands of followers in the area and many fakirs learned the art of baul song from him. As a result of his popularity, he recently had to stand on stage in favor of the local BNP-nominated MP candidate Afroza Khan Rita at a jalsa.

Seeking votes for the paddy sheaf, he said: “We will be able to sing if the BNP comes to power. Otherwise, our days are over.” This is basically the problem. Locals claim that seeking votes for the paddy sheaf is the reason for his trial and a quarter intentionally highlighted and circulated the controversial part of his argument in a song.

My intention in discussing the issue is neither justifying Baul Abul Sarkar nor taking and stance against the government. Rather, the subject of my discussion is to unearth the history of the conflict of ideologies prevailing in the soil of Bengal. Digging into the history of Sufi repression, it has been seen that the seeds of such incidents were not sown in this land, but rather in Arab lands.

As a result, the execution of the mystic Mansour al-Hallaj, Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani, the Ishraqi philosopher Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardi, the Ottoman mystic and rebel Sheikh Bedreddin, and the wandering poet Sarmad Kashani in Mughal India led to the persecution of bauls, mystics, poets, and gayans in Bengal.

There is a long history of suppression of Sufism in the Islamic world. This has been done for both religious and political purposes in later centuries. To go deeper into this, we have to go back several hundred years. We have to go closer to the story of the birth of mysticism in Bengal and its early development in the subcontinental environment.

Whatever the propagation and spread of Islam in Bengal, the influence of the liberal philosophy of the Sufis here attracted the most people to Islam. The Sufis were divided into two classes: Salik and Majjub. Saliks were pro-Sharia and Majjub did not give importance to Sharia. They gave more importance to Ma'rifat or love of Allah than to Sharia and integrated with the local cultural traditions associated with Hinduism.

They were able to make many Hindus as their disciples along with Muslims. Again, the Vaishnavism of this land had a great influence on the Sufis and the Sufis also became syncretists - synthesizers of Hindu-Muslim culture and ideology by being devoted to Hindu gurus.

As a result, the devotion to the Gurus of the Hindus began among the Muslims. Gradually, Satyapir, Manikpir, Ghorapiir, Madaripir, and Kumirpir began to be worshipped. Hindus' Bandurga or Bandebi, Olaichandi, etc. secular goddesses took the form of Banabibi and Olabibibi of Muslims.

Devotion to these Pirs and secular deities and devotion to shrines are still prevalent in the rural society of Bangladesh. The people of this land perform these rituals not from a religious point of view, but out of the continuous faith of the ancestors. Muslims of Bengal started Milad Mahfil in imitation of the Vaishnav ritual.

According to historians, the practice of Milad did not come from Arab countries, but from Vaishnavism. Majjub Sufis accepted and adopted this combination.

On the other hand, the supporters of Sharia gave fatwas calling these rituals Bedayat or new inventions in Islam. Although they became vocal against these local rituals, they never succeeded in stopping the common people. Because these customs that have been performed for thousands of years are the culture of Bengal. Even though the people of Bengal embraced Islam, they could not abandon their traditional culture.

The Bera Bhasan festival on Thursday of the month of Bhadra is actually the worship of the sea-ruler Khwaja Khizir of Islamic myth. Historical evidence shows that the Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, used to join the joint Hindu-Muslim festival of Bera Bhasan.

At the beginning of the spread of Islam in Bengal, rituals like Jatra and Barwari Puja were enjoyed equally by Hindus and Muslims in rural society. Muslims also enjoyed the mythological poems and poetic songs on the themes of idol worship and Hindu mythology. Although there were some differences between the lifestyles of Hindu and Muslim saints, they were essentially one ethnic group - a mystical, thoughtful, and philosophical group.

After the Wahhabi-Faraizi movement, a section of Muslims started adopting radical Islamic ideology instead of the simple and practical Islam of Bengal. Similarly, Arabic-Persian words were introduced into the practice and colloquial language. The tendency to learn Urdu and Persian increased and the common Muslims became enthusiastic about studying the history of Arabia, Turkey, and Persia.

Thus, Muslims began to separate from Hindus in every aspect of life throughout the 19th century. As a result of the complete Islamization movement of Haji Shariatullah-Titumir, the successor of Shirhindi, Dehlavi, and Barlabi, it was seen that the new Muslims of this land had abandoned the previous uniform manners and habits of their Hindu ancestors.

Most of the Muslims abandoned the simple Islamic culture and became followers of the strict Arab Islam. But in comparison, the Baul community and their followers remained the bearers and followers of that simple Islamic philosophy. After that, pressure and force continued to be used at various times to drag these mystics to the strict path of Sharia, which resulted in ideological conflicts. This conflict resulted in authoritarian behavior towards the relatively harmless and non-violent bauls.

But even through this conflict, Baul music, a unique genre of traditional folk music of Bengal, survived in Bengal. After the emergence of Muslim Sufis in Bengal, Sufi philosophy was widely mixed with the ideas of Tantric Buddhism, Radha-Krishnaism, and Vaishnava Sahajiya ideology. Baul music has survived since the early seventeenth century, reflecting the nature of Bengal, the soil, and the philosophy of the agricultural-based social people, equality, and humanity.

The baul genre was created from the intense desire to find God within one's own body in the style of mysticism. The baul's ground is his body, his guide is his guru, his life partner is a woman, the path of pursuit is melody, and the mantra is Ektaara. The main theme here is one - the desire to unite with Allah. The Marmi Bauls believe that Allah Almighty created all the souls or the world of souls (the world of souls) long before the creation of the physical body of man.

This soul is in no way separate from Allah, it is united and one. When the soul enters the human body by the command of Allah, then whether willingly or unwillingly, the soul has to enter. But after entering, the soul is anxious to return to its own world, the world of souls.

One of the genres of this Baul song is the Palagaan or narrative folk song. Palagaan is mainly composed of mythological and folk narratives. Since this song is narrative, it is performed in the form of a conversation. This conversation or argument sometimes takes place in the language of the peasant class of the village, which can sometimes be vulgar. Whatever the use of language, the main philosophy here is the feeling of unity with Allah.

In this world of bauls, there is no separate entity between man and God, the mystical baul is simply absorbed in the existence of Allah. As a result, the use of the Baul language is the same for him as it is for the Almighty. In this sense, the use of the Baul language by Abul Sarkar may sound vulgar among civilized people, but in the context of mystic philosophy, it is just a continuation of the century-old tradition.

Author: Fiction writer and journalist