বাংলা 
English 
The regional boundary of the bauls of Bengal is Bangladesh's Kushtia, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Jhenaidah, Magura, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna, Natore, Sirajganj, Barishal, Sylhet, Sunamganj, Moulvibazar, Mymensingh, Netrakona, Tangail, Jamalpur, Dhaka, Manikganj, Brahmanbaria, Chittagong and other districts, and in India's West Bengal, Birbhum, Bankura, Nadia, Murshidabad, the 24 Parganas and others.
Across this vast area over which the bauls have spread, the same kind of baul is not found everywhere. In truth, from region to region one can see many kinds of difference in the bauls' dress and habits, in the words and tunes of their songs, even in their methods of sadhana and their rites. For instance, it is very hard to find close similarity between the bauls of the Rarh region and those of central Bengal. Actually, the bauls of the Nadia-Murshidabad or Birbhum-Bankura regions of West Bengal are Vaishnava-influenced: like the Vaishnavas they wear ochre and yellow robes, and at the beginning or end of a song they say aloud 'Hari Hari' or 'Hari Bol'. On the other hand, the bauls of the Kushtia, Jhenaidah, Chuadanga, Meherpur, Faridpur and Magura regions remain absorbed in sadhana in a blend of the Nath, Vaishnava and Sufi doctrines; they wear the garb of the dead upon the living body, that is, white cloth, and say aloud 'Aleek Sai', 'Allah Aleek', 'Joy Guru', 'Sai Niranjan' and so on. Their sadhana-rite is seen to be sadhu sanga, and that sadhu sanga is carried out according to certain distinct rules - din-daka, the offering of the asan (seat), the receiving of seba (service), the singing of songs and so on. On the other hand, the bauls of the Sylhet, Chittagong, Dhaka, Brahmanbaria and greater Mymensingh regions too perform their sadhana-bhajan with different characteristics. Yet, with the bauls of all these regions, a similarity with the Sufis can be seen. Still, in much of their rites they too hold a distinct identity apart from the Sufis.
Baul sages and song composers
Among the baul sages and song composers of Bengal, the claim to pre-eminence belongs to Fakir Lalon Sai. He was on this earth roughly from 1774 AD to 1890 AD. Lalon Sai spent his whole life giving the baul sadhana a lasting and song-shaped form; his songs contain manifold instructions for the rites of baul sadhana. He composed songs of the stages - beginning with doin, then goshtha, gour, atma-tattva, adamtattva, nabi-tattva, srishti-tattva, sadhana-tattva, deha-tattva and the rest - as well as songs that open up humanity with a bent for social reform.
The stream of guru-disciple succession in baul sadhana that Lalon initiated still runs with great vigour in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. Among the Lalon-following sages, those who have attained pre-eminence in composing songs are Duddu Shah, Khodabux Shah, Behal Shah, Moksed Ali Sai, Mohin Shah and others of note. Those acknowledged in Bangladesh and India as baul sages, song composers and musicians include Jadu Bindu, Dwij Das, Panju Shah, Gosai Gopal, Hason Raja, Nabin Das Baul, Purna Das Baul and Shah Abdul Karim.
The stream of baul sadhana and baul song composition remains a flowing, living stream in Bangladesh and West Bengal of India. Age after age, time after time, hundreds upon thousands of bauls practised this stream of sadhana and song in the past, and even now countless baul sages and devotees are continuing this stream. If one goes to the villages of Bangladesh and West Bengal of India, one still finds bauls; even on the road while walking, on trains, buses or in the towns, the presence of baul artists does not escape the eye, for in their voices there is the sweetest of songs and the expanse of bhava.
Information and gratitude: playwright and researcher Simon Zakaria
