বাংলা 
English 
People who speak Bengali are used to hearing many kinds of songs — Bengali, Hindi, Urdu, Arabic, Persian, English and more. But the song that has won the hearts of the people of Bengal above all others is the Baul song. In a word, Baul songs are the soul of Bengal.
But why did it become so popular? Though the people of Bengal listen to songs of many kinds, they cannot hold most of them in memory for long. But as the days pass, those old Baul songs grow more and more captivating. In truth, the Baul songs hold the inspiration of living life in a simple, honest way — an outline of how a human being lives, or should live. Baul songs speak of society; they speak of the human being, and of humanity itself. Baul songs are built upon various doctrines.
There are a great many Baul artists in the two Bengals, and with the Bauls of both Bengals there exists a bond of the soul of a different kind — a bond that perhaps not even people of one's own faith share. Festivals of the Bauls' various songs go on equally in the two Bengals. Centred on these festivals, all the Bauls join together at different times and different festivals.
Although the Bauls have a creed of their own, they work chiefly with the religion of humanity. How society may prosper, how human beings may prosper — this remains their principal theme. They immerse themselves in people and in society. They become something like nomads. They are not anxious about where they will stay or sleep. Today Faridpur, tomorrow Narsingdi; today Guwahati, tomorrow Birbhum. And it is difficult to hold them. They join this Baul journey only after finishing the responsibilities of their own families. Their lives are not necessarily happy ones; they too pass their lives through much sorrow and hardship. But they leave behind some precious words, patterns and doctrines, which afterwards stir people's minds and heighten the eagerness to know.
The greatest Baul saint of the Bengali subcontinent at present is the emperor of the Bauls, Fakir Lalon Shah. But many want to place him even higher, for the reckoning is vast — he possessed many more virtues. The devoted disciples of Fakir Lalon Shah too are great Bauls, and to this day they keep giving birth to many Baul artists. After him comes Baul saint Abdul Karim Shah. Then there are Baul saint Chan Mia, Baul saint Jalal Uddin, Baul saint Hasim Shah, saint Abdus Sattar Mohonto Shah, Baul Bashir Uddin Sarkar, Baul saint Kari Amir Uddin, Baul saint Kafil Uddin, Baul saint Rashid Uddin, Baul saint Durbin Shah, Baul Umed Ali Fakir, Baul saint Malek Dewan, Baul saint Siraj Uddin Khan Pathan, saint Monomohan Datta, the great saint Ukil Munshi, Pagla Kanai, Mukunda Das, Radharaman Datta, Rajjab Ali Dewan, Baul artist Kobiyal Bijoy Sarkar, Baul Abdul Majid Talukdar — and many more Baul saints there are in this Bengal. Across the other Bengal too, they are by no means few — many a gifted Baul saint is there: Paban Das Baul, Golam Fakir, Kalachand Darbesh, Purna Das Baul Samrat, Tinkari Chhyapa, Halim Fakir, Chand Bibi, Nimai Goswami, Baul Joydeb Kenduli, Basudev Das Baul, Maki Kazumi, Sadhan Das Baul, Dipankar Chakraborty, Tarek Das Baul, Nitai Baul, Gour Chhyapa, Bholanath Das Baul. Many more gifted Baul saints and artists remain, about whom there will be fuller discussion in some other piece.
Baul songs have come alive in cinema, drama and small stories. At present the influence of these Baul songs is quite visible in advertisements too. The present government has also played quite a pioneering role regarding the Bauls. The Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy has recorded the songs of more than three hundred Bauls in various ways, and research on them is to be done. At present the Bauls are being portrayed in various ways, on the basis of their works. But it must be remembered that just as there is something bad in everything, there is some of it within this group as well. It seems to me that their endeavour is chiefly to sully the Bauls.
Baul songs are the soul of Bengal, and they are the fragrance of society. Taken together, they have made green Bengal eternally green. The Baul saints have always been kind enough to illuminate society. It is not only the Bauls — good people of every class wish to illuminate society, and keep doing so. Come, let us all set out on that illuminated path, forgetting all divisions. And let there be one vow for us all —
Speak the truth, walk the right path, O my mind,
if you do not know truth and the right path, you will never behold the true human being.
