Indigenous Baul Fraud, Indigenous Baul Identity Theft!
Baul is not and never was Muslim, EVER!
Fakir, Aul, Sai, Dervish, and Shah are 'NOT' Baul.
There are not 4 or 5 types of Baul. This is repeated by people who are using Baul ing Baul.
Baul does not mean 'afflicted by the wind'. Most Scholars say, Bauls are illiterate, this is not true either, the people who come to Baul, the people who follow Baul may be illiterate, but a Baul is never illiterate. .
Oral Sanskrit is way beyond any English Scholarly translations. Bauls could speak Sanskrit by 'hearing and remembering' along with reading manuscripts, Nabani Das Khyapa Baul had many manusripts.
Bauls is not an 'umbrella' name for groups of random peoples? I have documented all, and it is clear how this all came into being. I will present all my findings in the new book, everybody is to blame including Babu Kishan who used to post things to see if others would post the same things, I have to say and you know what they did?
Babu Kishan aka Krishendu Das Baul noticed long ago, that scholars and others would randomly make false untrue statements about the Bauls. He watched how these statements were copied and pasted by other and scholars.
Babu did experiments decades ago, planting things to see if it would be reposted as truth and it was. Even his own family copied and pasted, without even knowing?
Copy and paste about Baul is wrong, It is all copy and paste as truth when most of it is not even true.
Baul is a Sampradaya (only one Sampradaya) of a very small group of Tantric Vaishnava Yogi's from Birbhum Bengal.
Just because random people say they are Bauls does not mean they are Baul. There are certain questions that must be answered before one can even be called a Baul? You can't just say you are a Baul or make up a lineage of Baul??
The trend is to make up lineages?
There is only 'one' lineage of Baul. All Bauls who are making up lineages are just that making up lineages. However, they only follow this lineage, singing this lineages Baul songs, dressing as them and following them around the world.
No one in this world would know about Baul without all the pioneering work this family has done and especially Babu Kishan (Krishnendu Das).
It is important to understand the two root words that mean Baul are Sanskrit words, (Vayu and Tula) these are the roots of Baul. In the Bengali language B (Bayu) and in the rest of India V (Vayu) = VayuTula = Vatula in Bengali Batula and over time Baula and now Baul.
The name Baul comes from 'Sanskrit' and their tradition is an 'Oral Sanskrit Tradition' Bauls are 'wind catchers'. Vayu Dharma is the Baul term for Pranayama.
A Baul is a title such as 'Acharya, Guru, or Adept' it is not a radom title for all, there was a way of life. Baul is an adept in Pranayama, Vaishnava and Tantra, a true Baul has spent a lifetime learning all shastra and doing sadhana. Without sadhana there is no Baul, but just because a person does sadhana (practice) does not make them a Baul either.
It is not so simple to simple say I am a Baul, or I was initiated by a Baul because many people say they are Baul and are not. You could say it is rather complicated. A westerner or someone outside of the Sampradaya can never distinguish who is a Baul and who is not, but if you watch over time and study enough, you can see what is real and what is not, thus as an outsider you first have to know what Baul means and why do people even know about Baul.
Baul to balance the vital Vayu (airs) to keep a balance (Tula) of Vayu, the vital Prana in the human body.
For instance Nabani Das Khyapa Baul could meditate under water for 12 hours or more, he could be buried under the earth for 12 hours or more. Perhaps this will help you understand why Baul is extinct, Nabani was the last authentic Baul who carried the Essence of Baul.
The Essence of Baul as great Tantric Yogi's or in the case of Baul - Avadhuta- has flown away and Vaishnava. It is great that new Baul singers/actors are keeping the name Baul alive but do not be confused of what it means to be a Baul.
Singing is important but only a drop in the ocean of Baul.
All Baul copy Nabani's style (Ekatara, Baya, Nupoor) they do not have the Essence of Baul.
Afflicted by the wind is a misinterpretation of what Baul means. In Ayurveda to be afflicted with the wind is an illness created when the body has an imbalance in the air element called a Vata derangement, the Bauls are not afflicted by the wind.
This is a misconception and misinterpretation of Baul. Afflicted by the wind, is copied and pasted because a scholar said it and now has become the standard for what Baul means, it is wrong and is not what Baul means.
If one says, Baul means 'afflicted by the wind' they do not understand, they have copied and pasted it from Edward Dimock who was an American early Bengali scholar, in his Book "The Places of the Hidden Moon" he did a great job describing Sahajiya Vaishnavism which by the way is Baul.
Then in his chapter on Baul he completely got it wrong and could not figure out who they are, it is laced with confused speculations?
Please understand how the whole trajectory or narrative of a tradition can be changed by even subtle misinterpretations and then copy and paste as if true over and over in book after book by mostly scholars, this leads to people who want to follow Baul as being confused?
Every other day someone writes their speculations on Baul, on academia.org there are hundreds, the last one I read is that Quawwali singing is Baul, the man who wrote it even used a picture of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul to prove his messed up theory. I showed Babu kishan who composed many Quawwali's for the top Quawwali singer in India and he said NO WAY.
If anybody would know he would know. Baul has nothing to do with Islam, Muslim or Fakir, they are muslim, Baul is Hindu.
This is how the whole narrative can be changed by an outsider looking in? This is my point and not to be taken lightly!
Baul is NOT Afflicted by the wind, and people use 'Edward Dimock' as the bench mark on what Baul is? He did the best he could at the time but the repeated scholarly copy and paste of this is an insult to the real authentic Baul. To the Bau who has archived his lineage over decades and who is from this lineage, an expert Sanskritist oral and classical at the highest levels.
Most of the PHD's from over the world used to come to Babu Kishan aka Krishnendu Das to learn both Sanskrit, Bengali and yes of course about Baul because his house in Calcutta was a Cultural Hub.
Carol Solomon always came to Babu Kishan over decades as a resource to get Bengali and Baul information. Carol always consulted Babu about Bengali and they became friends. This story will be told in his book because it is of major significance in the Cultural Appropriation and twisting of Baul History. Babu Kishan met or knew all the scholars and had much to say.
Babu Kishan, asked Lila Roy, (the best ever Bengali translator) and the most (under recorded) American Bengali Translator for Rabindranath Tagore. When Babu asked her if this person or that person was very good at doing Bengali to English translations, she just shrugged her shoulders in an agreement way. However, Lila Roy would never say anything bad about anybody. All scholars pat each other on the back but do they ever talk about Lila Roy, I am pretty sure they all met her!
*Note*, The Vaishnava Bauls were Sanskritists as Babu Kishan was born into. None speak Sanskrit anymore and have twisted the story to suit their narrative.
It is now necessary to get the narrative straight because Baul is extinct and it seems many are saying anything and changing the narrative.
The Bauls sang their songs in Bengali, just as Tulsi Das composed the Hanuman Chalisa in the vernacular language of the villagers, so did the Bauls because their job was to educate the villagers, they were the Guru's.