Qualifying the below, speculations by Moushumi Bhowmik creating Myths about Baul history?
Nabani Das Khyapa Baul did not pass away in 1962 as stated by Allen Ginsberg who later admitted he was wrong personally to KD Babu Kishan who knew Ginsberg over decades in India and visiting him in New York, Ginsberg wrote the only Baul poetry as a gift to Babu Kishan. Nabani did not pass away in 1964 as stated by Moushumi Bhowmik in her writings, it was 1969 as per Krishnendu Das Baul aka Babu Kishan who lived with him until he passed, he is the eldest grandchild of Nabani and Brajabala Dasi he knows all the stories, Nabani and Brajabala not only were who he bonded with from birth, they were Babu Kishan's Guru's, not even Purna Das Baul would call Nabani his Guru.
Purna Das Bauls guru was Omkar Sitaram Das.
KD Babu Kishan was named Krishnendu by Nabani Das Khyapa Baul when he was born and he lived the story from his birth until Nabani passed in 1969. KD Babu Kishan as the eldest grandchild was left with Nabani, while Purna Das Baul was busy in Calcutta and having 2 other sons, without looking back for his eldest son?
Who would know more than KD Babu Kishan? Not knowing the story, not questioning Kd Babu Kishan however, speculating with inaccuracies. You are a myth maker. KD Babu Kishan does not live in the USA?
You and your field studies of consulting an art historian who should be ashamed of letting this statue of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul fall into ruin. All the art historian had to do was look at Ramkinkar Baij's other statues to see it is the same artist, which is unmistakable?
Is this art historian not able to talk to Ramkinkar Baij's family?
As KD Babu Kishan said, he is probably a typical communist know it all and doesn't even know who Nabani Das Khyapa Baul was? There is no one left at Vishva Bharati who knew Nabani Das khyapa Baul, they don't even know who Purna Das Baul is anymore.
Communism has a big history of destroying culture and Bengal is not different, the young people today do not remember anything, there is a few trying to revive the Hindu culture in Bengal, but most miss the nuances and distinctions necessary.
Who would know more than the person who was with Nabani the moment he left this world, the shock was so great it sent little Krishnendu into samadhi for well over a week. Nabani Das Khyapa Baul is inside of KD Babu Kishan, there is a deep lifelong story that he has never told.
There are many things in Deben Battacharya's book 'Mirror of the Sky' that are missed and incorrect, it is a very general book of pictures of this lineage and a few stories about Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and this lineage.
Mirror of the Sky is the name Tagore gave Nabani, that is not a myth. Many of Nabani's own poems in Deben's book are titled anonymous, especially Nabani's song, Mirror of Sky, but academics, journalist, fake Bauls just accept Deben is correct and many things in that book are not. Deben lists short poems from this lineage all translated into English, very short, reduced in meaning and adding some Gosai names with no explanation that those Gosai are this lineage, he did not truly understand Baul as many people never do.
Why is it so hard to understand, this lineage of Bauls has a right to self-determination, until you have done vigorous research on Baul how can call KD Babu Kishan as myth maker, when the journalists, and outsider pretendian fake Bauls are not Baul. No one is to blame for the past decades if random generic people are allowed to construct lies about being Bauls or when academics and journalist continue to spread lies, it is not their fault, it is the fault of the Baul and KD Babu Kishan for not qualifying and speaking up.
OH wait KD Babu Kishan has been qualifying what is real in Baul and what is fake since the 1970's as a young 'qualified' and not only as an indigenous ancestral Baul but an academic scholar, he qualified and spoke out for decades standing up to the biggest Academics worldwide, and they just pushed him away, telling him he was wrong. This is insulting and demeaning to any indigenous person to have their voices dismissed and replaced by colonial academic scholars, fake pretendian shilpi nakal Bauls who are riding on the coattails of this lineage, Das Baul and Dasi while creating a random and generic Baul?
The authority of any indigenous lineage which is always based on ancestry aka Guru Shishya (Parampara) lies within the lineage, that is why this making up of fake lineages, and fake Bauls Gurus must be brought out into the open. First people need to know the questions to ask and the answers of how to know who is real and who is a fake Baul most often using Baul for their own personal interests.
Now is the time as there is no time left to bring the truth of Baul out into the open, and Baul then can only be qualified and self-determined by an indigenous lineage 'Guru shisya parampara sampradya of Baul.
There is only one lineage of Vaishnava Sahajiya Tantric Baul (Vayu Tula) Vatula is a wrong description, Baul is not an Ayruvedic Vata derrangment, afflicted by the wind as is commonly repeated? Baul is not one Sanskrit word, it is two, and only a Sanskritist would know this. Baul is from a long line a long lineage of ancestors, it is their birth right to self-determine who they are, however, they too must be qualified in every which way. Baul is never from a random Guru or a one or two lineage based on a poet?
Are you indigenous to the soil and soul or Birbhum, do you know the music of the Bauls, and the history, do you know oral Sanskrit and vernacular Birbhum, their own style of sandhya Bhasha a secret coded language of allegory, metaphor, paradox and riddle and Braja Basha. Everybody is self-determining who the Vaishnava Sahajiya Bauls of Birbhum are in short one word paragraphs. No not are you learning, do you know it from birth? There is a huge difference between oral Sanskrit and classical Sanskrit, Babu Kishan knows both and he can tell within a second who you are?
You are missing the nuances, distinctions of Baul.
Does this art historian know anything about Baul or who Nabani is? Did he even compare the sculpture to Ramkinkar Baijs other sculptures, I am not an art historian and I can see very distinct similarities. Either way no matter what his knowledge is the statute is in the custody of the Vishva Bhararati University, and it should be preserved and is not, who is negligent? The art historian should be ashamed not to protect that sculpture allowing it to slowly be destroyed by the ravages of time.
The fake new age mish mash of patchwork of stealing the intellectual property from this lineage and acting it out to collect people Bauls must be called out, they are twisting Baul to fit their lack of Baul wisdom. They take a drop here and there from this lineage and act it out.
I have tried through yes I know, long rambling previous articles to give hints, but you know what no one cares they see Baul as entertainment. People today have ears for the fake, and love to follow fake in irrational ways without any research or study of what and who Baul is. Always repeating past personal opinions with nothing to qualify anything except a feeling? Some will so oh i just like it, I don't understand it, I don't know anything about it, I don't understand the language, but I feel good, next Baul will become the hugging saint thing, where you touch their feet, but this is not Baul, Baul teaches others to touch their own feet,?
It seems everybody is an expert without even knowing what Baul means, I have given descriptions here, and they have been worked around. Baul only means one thing and this is given by KD Babu Kishan it means 'Vayu Tula', V is B in Bengali, yet, it seems people have come to use the Ayurvedic term a one word vatula as the description, because they believe acadmenic scholars more that an indigenous Baul, it was Edward Dimocks book who started this "afflicted by the wind' which is a wind derrangement disease that has nothing to do with Baul, but it has become a virus to name Baul as a virus. Can you imagine how insulting this is to the indigenous people called Baul?
First research what Vayu means in Sanskrit and then what Tula means, Bauls are oral Sanskritists, if one is not brought up that way, they are not a Baul, if one is now acting like they are Sanskritsts KD Babu Kishan will qualify you because he can tell within a second what kind of Sanskrit you know if it is Baul or not? There are ways to understand, there are specific questions that need to be asked to see if one is lying or not, fake or real, using an indigenous ancestral tradition to collect people, travel the world and worst of fundraise in the name of indigenous Baul for personal interests?
KD Babu Kishan for over 60 years as an born in Birbhum indigenous Baul is reclaiming the narrative of his one and only lineage of Baul. Even one wrong statement from history will be called out. He has preserved Baul for over 60 years, Baul is preserved, thus if anybody is fundraising in the name of Baul they are cheaters and liars. Baul is not Muslim and never was, they use Baul to fundraise and it has been criminal. Explained in KD Babu Kishan's 4th book on Baul to be released later this year.
https://indiafolkheritageofbengal.weebly.com/cultural-misappropriation.html
https://lineagebaul.blogspot.com/2025/02/indigenous-identity-theft-indigenous.html
Critique of journalist, field trip worker, Moushumi Bhowmik of the travelling archives, regarding a statement alluding that KD Babu Kishan is a myth-maker, about his own lived life. Before you criticize you first have to know who you are spreading false narratives about, you have never talked to or met KD Babu Kishan. She did a good job in some of her research, however, there are some key mistakes or assumptions.
Babu Kishan says, don't write about him, if you do not know him. Before you throw it out there, you have to know who KD Babu Kishan is? You are criticizing KD Babu Kishan as if he is a child making up stories or myths.
I was the one who found this, we never took the time to read it before, as there are so many using Baul obtaining grants by fabricating stories. Are you a Baul, no your are not, your research is not the truth of the story.
Any good Art historian would compare the sculptures of Ramkinkar Baij and see if it is the same style of his other sculptures, I am not an art historian, however, anybody can tell this is the same style of Ramkinkar Baij. So it is important to have this art historian qualified to his assessments and why he has let this sculpture go into such decline.
If the art historian had fully done his research you would know that only Nabani style was Ektara (Gopi Yantra) Baya and Nupoor which is also, Purna Das Baul style copied by all fake Bauls.
However, you and do not know it is not your subject as of course you just got a grant to make a mish mash extolling some and being suspicious and critical of Babu Kishan as a myth maker who lives in the USA and he does not live in the USA. Facts, nuances, rigours research and knowledge of the deep landscape are important. It is important to hear the legitimate voices of the indigenous Baul and as KD Babu Kishan is the only indigenous ancestral Baul who preserved Baul over 6 decades and remembers. Purna Das Baul's youngest brother took no interest in Baul, when Babu Kishan was doing all the work the 2 youngest were living a regular life in Calcutta, they were not put in the Ramakrishna orphanage, they are completely different from Babu Kishna. It was Babu Kishan who did all the documenting, recording and had all the contacts, he did all the speaking for Purna Das Baul as he did not speak English. It is a very long story, to long to explain here.
It isn't too difficult to figure out if you see the picture Tagore and Tagore's photographer took of Nabani, or if you knew Lila Roy who was Tagore's editor and also, happened to be Babu Kishan's friend, confidant and editor of his 3rd book in 1985. Did you interview KD Babu Kishan the eldest son of Purna Das Baul who re-corded over 80% as a music composer of Purna Das Bauls music, no because he stopped doing interviews long ago, because his experience is exactly this, twisting of the stories, random speculations and including people who are not Baul along with their pictures representing this one and only lineage.
Who are you, what qualifies you, just and another jackpot grant winner, self-determining who is Baul? Creating myths and false narratives, creating a mess of indigenous Baul, which according to the United Nations only an indigenous person can self-determine who they are.
"Within the Nabani Das family, there are all sorts of myths which do the rounds. Over the years, Nabani Das , Purna Das and Lakshman (also spelt Laxman and Luxman) Das became part of something big, a kind of establishment, studied by scholars and the latter two recorded by major international labels, performing in music concerts around the world, especially Purna Das Baul.
Answer:
The major label recording of Purna Das Baul only come through KD Babu Kishan as he worked for all the major record labels in Mumbai as a Music Composer. The academic Scholars all knew Babu Kishan as he used to critique them all, correct it all happened because this one and only pioneering Guru Shishya Parampara Sampradaya pioneered Baul and made Baul famous. This is where all the fake Bauls riding on the coattails of this lineage came in, self-titling themselves as Das Baul copying thier songs, style of dance, dress, instruments, where they went and what they did. This was the biggest demise of the indigenous Bauls where their indigenous lifestyle changed due to the cultural change, no longer could they survive.
Thus, KD Babu Kishan created a new template for the Bauls to survive doing cultural programs worldwide. This template he created for indigneous Bauls to have a way to survive, it was usurped by the tricker pretendian actor Bauls and thus, Baul is almost extinct. How can indigenous Bauls survive if their indigenous intellectual property is stolen and reworked with lies acting as a show. People do not know the language, they do not know the history of Baul, how are they supposed to know a gimmick.
There is a big story here, one completely missed and no they are not a kind of establishment, Purna Das Baul is a highly awarded representative of Indian Culture through India and worldwide through ICCR and Sangeet Natak Akademi he used to sing all over India before Indira Gandhi gave her speeches and then when she was assassinated sang for Rajiv Gandhi all over India and right beside him the whole way was KD Babu Kishan and his wife Manju Das. The truth is that Nabani Das Khyapa Baul the first Baul to ever sing on stages as part of the Freedom movement did the same thing for Nehru, and sang on the stage at the opening and inauguration of India. You do not know, how could you know? The fake actor Bauls with gimmicks do not even know, they go around spreading false narratives. That is why everything will be critiqued and called out, Baul has been used enough.
Before you randomly just throw it out there about this lineage and that they are myth makers understand this is an indigenous people who have the right to self-determine who they are, they have been used, copied, poached, and others have taken a ride on their coattails, using their songs, style, dance, dress, where they go and what they have already achieved as part of Baul history watering down and reducing them to a group of illiterates.
When they speak oral Sanskrit, vernacular Bengali, sandhya Bhash and Braja Basha, no they did not speak English, you have to know the history. Know that no academic scholars are the final world on Baul, you may worship at their feet but Babu Kishan is both and indigenous Baul and an academic scholar with a huge body of successful work as a Music Composer, poet, qualified and experienced in every way. He is not like his 2 brothers or even his father who will say anything. Babu Kishan spent 12 years in the Ramakrishna mission as a monk he has put in the time and work with a BA and MA from Calcutta University and has taught at Universities around the world as an expert in Baul, Tantra, Indian Philosophy, Indian Music and has produced more music that any field recording study of 100 lives can do, he is an expert on Indian folk music and categorized all the folk music of India for the big recording companies of Bombay. You picked on the wrong guy to call a myth maker.
Do your research; it is all documented here, he is not an art historian but knows so many artists and journalist it would make your head spin, who he knows and knew you can not even ever live because he has lived many lives in one life. BabuKishan.org
It was Babu Kishan who recorded and produced this music for Purna Das Baul, Babu Kishan is a music composer he composed over 80% of his fathers most famous music, there are so many stories and only a paragraph given)."
Which is why family members are careful to mark their individual place within that lineage.
Answer:
It is not about Marking their territory that is rather insulting, it is a story of indigenous people who are the only lineage of Baul, marginalized by fake pretendian nakal shilpi Baul and false narratives by journalists, book writers, and scholars.
For example, one of Purna Das’ sons who lives in the USA now, Krishnendu Das Baul aka Babu Kishan Das, makes many claims about Nabani Das ’ associations with Santiniketan, particularly with Tagore.
Answer: KD Babu Kishan doesn't make claims, he gives the truth, he was born in Birbhum, he knew everybody and was instrumental in taking Baul worldwide, he was associated and taught at Universities worldwide,.
He does not live in the USA? He is the eldest Grandchild of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul who raised him and the eldest son of Purna Das Baul.
This sculpture is of a baul and it is on the outskirts of Santiniketan.
Nabani Das Khyapa Baul, Tagores Baul everybody who knew this, if time has passed and you don't know this or your art historian expert on Rabindranath Tagore art does not know this or that Ramkinkar Baij sculpted the statue of Nabani as commissioned by Tagore, it is a shame for the history of Baul as the sculpture is falling apart due to negligence. This is a fact and as confirmed by the names below who KD Babu Kishan knew including the RamKinkar Baij family who confirmed this too. What kind of journalist are you and what kind of art historian is this so called expert. Who would know more than KD Babu Kishan and why is questioned as a myth maker. He is a grandfather and over 60 years of age, he preserved Baul for the past 60 years. Purna Das Baul his father did not and his brothers never had an interest in Baul.
The claim is that it was made by the famous Ramkinkar Baij and was inspired by the figure of Nabani Das Baul.
It is not a claim, who are you anyhow, where did you get your information from I don't trust any art historian who does not even know the history of Baul? Did you ask us if you could use the information that you turned into a claim suggestion KD Babu Kishan is a liar when you don't know him, a myth maker is the same as saying a liar?
RamKinkar Baij was not inspired to create this statue, although he was a great close friend of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul. My dear it was Tagore that commissioned RamKinkar Baij to create this statue.
Vishva Bharti University should be ashamed of themselves for letting this statue go to ruin and not knowing the history of it. Today they don't even know who Nabani Das Khyapa Baul was let alone who Purna Das Bauls is?
The truth of this claim is disputed by art historians such as Sushovan Adhikary, who is a professor of Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan.
Let him dispute it, he is wrong and he knows nothing and probably does not even know the people Babu Kishan listed below.
He does not know Purna Das Baul, he does not know Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and thank God he does not know KD Babu Kishan. He is not a Baul or expert on Baul, knows nothing about Baul period.
He did not know anything of Tagore and Baul and obviously does not know RamKinkar's Baij's family. However, there is a list below of people who were so close to Tagore and knew Nabani Das Khyapa Baul, Purna Das Baul and KD Babu Kishan. These are Babu Kishan's sources, people he talked to, researched and wrote about in over 60 years of research into his own indigenous ancestral living lineage or Guru Shishya Paramapara Sampradaya of Vaishnava Sahajiya Tantric Bauls of Birbhum.
First you have to know the history then you can talk.
"But I do not know who made it."
Then why bother talk about it, perhaps you could have asked KD Babu Kishan rather than take pictures from our blog, scour our pages and then making up myths as lies. How insulting and what bad journalism or research.
KD Babu Kishan took that picture of his Grandmother/ Grandfather Nabani, they were the only mother and father he bonded with as a baby to age 8, you do not know the story, the picture and the story are the intellectual property of the guy you called a myth maker? Do not speculate or make up stories. They are the ones who encouraged him from a young age to preserve Baul. As no one else had any interest, not his father who says Omkar Sitaram Das was his Guru, not his brothers who were never interested either. When a father (Purna Das Baul) puts his son in an Ramakrishna orphanage it make one act differently, so when you spent 12 years in the Ramakrishna mission and travel the world teaching Indian Philosophy, Baul, Tantra, and Indian Music at Universities worldwide and cultural programs worldwide and work in Indian Cinema Bollywood for 40 years and know all the singers, stars, and journalist around India perhaps you can talk to Babu Kishan about what he knows. I am telling you, you do not have a clue who is KD Babu Kishan and who he knows. His own Dad and brothers do not even know and in that there is a story. First learn where he actually lives, don't do guess work. He is a Grandfather, he is not new.
Critique of the above statements:
KD Babu Kishan was raised by his Guru Nabani Das Khyapa until he passed away in 1969. Radharani and Gopal Das Baul, Laxshman Das Baul and Chakradhar were very close to KD Babu Kishan. He is the eldest indigenous ancestral Baul of his generation, the eldest son of Purna Das Baul.
Critique:
KD Babu Kishan does not live in the USA, no other son lives in the USA.
It is insulting to say Babu Kishan would make up a myth regarding his own lineage as the eldest grandchild of Nabani and Brajabala and the eldest son of Purna Das Baul. He has categorized all the folk music for Bombays largest Music Companies and is a legit Indian Music Composer who was certified by all the top Indian Music Composer. I don't have to explain to you, however, your research is wrong, you have a few points, but explain nothing, just one liners. You are self-determining and speculating about something you know nothing about.
Babu Kishan has written 3 books on Baul the last one in 1986 was sponsored by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar. He has a BA and Ma in Indian philosophy and music from Calcutta University. He has been responsible as his fathers manager of taking Baul worldwide since the 1970's through ICCR and Sangeet Natak Akademi as a cultural representative of India. He knows the stories, his brother does not, it was only KD Babu Kishan who preserved Baul. He was a monk in the Ramakrishna Mission in Calcutta for 12 years.
KD Babu Kishan never said that the statue was inspired by Nabani Das Khyapa Baul. That is not the story that is told.
He is the fist grandchild of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul who was born into the lap of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and Brajabala Dasi he lived with them as their child and the only parents he knew until Nabani passed away in 1969.
I will present some pictures of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul who was the only Baul to sing and dance with Ektara (Gopi Yantra), with a Baya (a drum) tied around his waist, and nupoor style ankle bells, as in the statue, and in pictures of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul still used today in ads at the Vishva Bharti University and other festivals in Birbhum and throughout Bengal. This style was Nabani style only.
Nabani Das Khyapa Baul was a good friend of RamKinkar Baij as he was of Rabindranath Tagore. I have written many articles about their association. Nabani was Rabindranath Tagore's Baul Guru, he gave him the name Robi (Ravi) Baul and Tagore gave Nabani the name, "Mirror of the Sky" thus, the book Mirror of the Sky by Deben Battacharaya who made many mistakes in his book. It is like you hold everybody up so high, people who are nobody in your study, but when it comes to KD Babu Kishan you make disparaging remarks, interesting.
Here is KD Babu Kishan's website; please do some research on him before you basically call him a liar.
These are not myths and as Babu Kishan says, who are you anyhow, what right do you have to self-determine in your little investigation who and what is Baul, what qualifies you to even talk about him without interviewing him.
Your project is a myth. It can be proven one by one. We are not making any money off of Baul history, but I bet you made money, of course you did you received a grant, fundraising to use Baul, what else is new, I also, see some pictures are taken right off this blog, that no one else has, I sure hope you asked for permission from Babu Kishan, this is not a free for all.
The sculpture is of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and the artist is his good friend RamKinkar Baij, much time has gone by. The people who knew are not there anymore. There is no way an art historian can know who this is, I bet he does not even know anything about Nabani Das Khyapa Baul let alone Purna Das Baul?
KD Babu Kishan had a direct connection with Shanti Dev Ghosh, Prabhat Mukherjee, Lila Roy, Nimai Sadhan Bose, Chancellor of Vishva Bharti, Kriti Mohan Sen Shastri, Amrytn Sen grandfather and many others who told him and confirmed this statue was of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and it was commissioned by Tagore for Ram Kinkar Baij to create it, I mean who else because he was good friends with Nabani.
Even Ram Kinkar Baij family knew this statue was of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and made by their very own RamKinkar Baij. The Birbhum District Magistrate at the time knew this as did Birbhum's Minister, West Bengals Minister and President of India's own Pranab Mukerjees and his father all knew this was a statue made by Ramkinkar Baij, all the Santiniketan people knew this. It is not a myth and to suggest such is insidious. First do you even know who these people are, did the art historian talk to these people?
Krishnendu Das Baul was also, told this by his grandmother Brajabala Dasi and Nabani Das Khyapa Baul. Who is the authority on Baul and indigenous ancestral Baul of 13 generations Babu Kishan who is the eldest of his generation, and the only grandchild raised by Nabani Das Khyapa Baul? In fact it was Nabani who gave his eldest grandchild the name Krishnendu.
KD Babu Kishan is also, the only one in his family that has preserved Baul for over 60 years, he is the authority on Baul. Did you interview him, no you disparaged him and made him out to be a myth maker. Well lets just see who is the myth maker?
All the above names confirmed to KD Babu Kishan that this was a sculpture of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul. They all knew this statue was of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul known as Mirror of the Sky, Khyapa Baba or Khyapa Baul who was the Baul who inspired Tagore and initiated Tagore into Baul.
Lets see who this art historian is Susobhan Adhikary, curator of Kala Bhavan museum, Visva Bharati University in Shantiniketan? What does he know about Baul, has he spoken to KB Babu Kishan does he even know who he is?
Do you know who Lila Roy is? Probably not she edited KD Babu Kishan's 4th book on Baul.
https://lineagebaul.blogspot.com/2018/09/lila-roy-rabindranath-tagores-personal.html
KD Babu Kishan, Krishnendu was only 22 years of age in this picture.
From 1985 who knew KD Babu Kishan from birth, she knew Nabani Das Khyapa Baul and the whole family so many generations, she is the rare supporter and knower of this lineage.
Lila Roy was Babu Kishan's good friend she was close to Rabindranath Tagore and she even said that statue was created on commission of Tagore in honour of Nabani Das Khyapa Baul his Baul Guru and the only Baul that was related to Tagore. How dare you call it a myth or even imply and your art historian we will meet him soon in Santiniketan he is going to love Babu Kishan's wisdom, he just does not know anything about Baul or who Krishnendu Das Baul aka Babu Kishan is.
First of all did he know all the people mentioned above, and what right does he have to just throw it out there, he should be ashamed for allowing a historical piece of art to end up in such decline. This is the problem he does not know anything about Nabani Das Khyapa Baul or the history of the Bauls, not a thing. Did he even look at the statue and compare it to Nabani Das Khyapa Baul only dance style. No because he doesn't know. Babu Kishan knew all the great artist of the time and he knew the RamKinkar Baij family very well.
Babu Kishan has know, he knows nothing about Baul, if he doesn't know this. All respected Bengali's who knew this lineage knew this was a statue commissioned by Rabindranath Tagore for their friend RamKinkar Baij to make.
Sometime he wore a turban and sometimes not, sometimes his beard was long and sometime not, Nabani was the only Baul who had huge jata or dread locks, no Baul Women ever did. Baul is all fake today.
The one and only Nabani Khyapa Baul as per just about everybody back in the day. The sculpture by Ramkinkar Baij who was a good close friend of Nabani's is of Nabani only it is undeniable. Baul has been made generic and random, the names have been taken off and new lineages and Baul Gurus designed, we will qualify them all one by one. It is important for the reclaimation of Baul back to its roots for the correct preservation of Baul, enough of the myth makers and speculators.
Photo taken by KD Babu Kishan in the 1980's, this is not any Baul is it Tagore's Baul Nabani Das Khyapa Baul, aka Mirror of the Sky, aka Khyapa Baba aka Khyapa Baul.
Brajabala sang too and we had talked about her on 6 May 2019.
By the way this photo is taken by KD Babu Kishan
