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Songs of Lalon Fakir - the Bengali mystic
Found these two poems by Lalon Fakir - the singing mystic of Bengal who echoes Bulleh Shah, Kabir and the tradition of Bhakti.
A Strange Bird
Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage!
O brother, I wish I could bind it with my mindÃs fetters.
Have you seen a house of eight rooms with nine doors
Closed and open, with windows in between, mirrored?
O mind, you are a bird encaged! And of green sticks
Is your cage made, but it will be broken one day.
Lalon says: Open the cage, look how the bird wings away!
Casteism
People ask, what is Lalon’s caste?
Lalon says, my eyes fail to detect
The signs of caste. Don’t you see that
Some wear garlands, some rosaries
Around the neck? But does it make any
Difference brother? O, tell me,
What mark does one carry when
One is born, or when one dies?
A muslim is marked by the sign
Of circumcision; but how should
You mark a woman? If a Brahmin male
Is known by the thread he wears,
How is a woman known? People of the world,
O brother, talk of marks and signs,
But Lalon says: I have only dissolved
The raft of signs, the marks of caste
In the deluge of the One!
Translated by Azfar Hussain
More details on Lalon are below:
Lalon Fakir was born in 1774 in an obscure village in the district of Kushtia, now in Bangladesh). One of the greatest mystic-singers the Indian subcontinent has ever produced, Lalon was perhaps the most radical voice in India during British colonial rule. Like Kabir, he had no formal education and lived in extreme poverty. Writing in nineteenth-century lyrical Bengali. Lalon composed numerous songs which still provide spiritual and political inspiration to the Bengali rural peasant–a class from which Lalon himself came, and also to freedom-fighters all over the world. He celebrates the freedom of body, soul, and even language from all repressive and divisive forces. Always opposed to casteism, sectarianism, and colonialism, Lalon represents and exemplifies the true revolutionary and secular nature of his community known as “Baul”, a community of low-class, illiterate, wandering singers whose wisdom and wit do not come from academic training, but from an active contact with a life intensely lived.
March 5th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
[...] siwarangda wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFound these two poems by Lalon Fakir - the singing mystic of Bengal who echoes Bulleh Shah, Kabir and the tradition of Bhakti. A Strange Bird Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage! O brother, I wish I could bind it with … [...]
March 6th, 2008 at 4:47 am
[...] siwarangda wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptFound these two poems by Lalon Fakir - the singing mystic of Bengal who echoes Bulleh Shah, Kabir and the tradition of Bhakti. A Strange Bird Look, how a strange bird flits in and out of the cage! O brother, I wish I could bind it with … [...]
March 6th, 2008 at 9:11 am
ah Lalon!
no doubt he was one of the greatest mystic poet and composer even in world standard. sad that we failed to present him according to his real value! from the depth of his mysticism, spiritual realization and able to communicate with gorgeous imagery of words, he reminds none but Rumi and Hafiz of persia.
and then i think he was even greater than Rumi and Hafiz in some sense because he wasn’t a theologian or professor as was Rumi or a well educated one like Hafiz. he came from a very modest background, yet his lyrics, poems and ability to unite both hindu and muslims were extremely gifted.
may God bless this great lover and mystic saint of bengal.
here are few of his original songs in Bangla sung by contemporary singers:
http://www.esnips.com/doc/f8535a5a-b761-4a0e-b40b-fabbd9ca2e54/Lalon-Gity—Shohoj-manush
http://www.esnips.com/doc/529c55ad-1c38-4cb3-8f3b-ea2955f65853/LaLon-Tomar-Arshi—Salma
http://www.esnips.com/doc/48e8214e-ec3f-48ac-b100-e296f4219a7f/Lalon—Ami-Opar-Hoye
http://www.esnips.com/doc/ff8ae9f0-9976-41d5-ad50-b0bed2717441/Jaat-Gelo
http://www.esnips.com/doc/6f7f1981-3a83-4567-a5b2-fc7c9b7577f8/Lalon-Tomar-Arshi-Nogor
March 7th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
The first one on Spanish:
Mira, ¡El extraño pájaro centellea dentro y fuera de la jaula!
Oh hermano, ojala pudiera atraparlo con cadenas en sus patas.
¿Has visto una casa de ocho habitaciones con nueve puertas
cerradas y abiertas, con ventanas enmedio, reflejadas?
Oh mente, ¡eres un pájaro enjaulado! y de verdes barrotes
está tu jaula fabricada, pero se romperá algún dÃa
Lalon dice: ¡Abre la jaula, observa como el pajaro vuela lejos!
really beautiful…
March 17th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
[...] Lalon, the singing mystic of Bengal and Rabindranath Tagore, the Bengali Nobel Laureate. Raza Rumi has more on Lalon [...]
July 12th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
August 24th, 2008 at 7:03 pm