Bangladesh Studies

During independence war and just after independence, development work was mostly done by international organizations using volunteers or skilled staffs (doctors, nurses, agricultural experts, economists etc.). The volunteers, however, often comprised of enthusiastic young foreigners mostly based in Dhaka or philanthropist from abroad. These groups were supported by local wealthy educated elites who had affinity with these expats for different reasons. It will not be completely wrong if these local associates are branded as local foreigners in dark skin. They helped foreigners in organizing relief distribution after devastating natural disaster or helping women who suffered measurably due to war crimes or provided support in rebuilding process. These successful first batch of smart native organizers could sense the picture of development wave that will swipe through Bangladesh. There was tremendous potential in getting engaged with development work fulltime and enjoy the benefit of huge development funding. They grabbed the opportunity with both hands. These are the pioneering generation of development consultants in Bangladesh. Few of those have grown as powerful global figures, amassed tremendous wealth, name and fame as development practitioners.

European Publisher Springer Includes
Articles on Allama Mashriqi & Tazkirah in
New Encyclopedia



Springer, a globally recognized and well-respected publishing company (originally founded in Germany in 1842), has included articles on Allama Mashriqi and Tazkirah in its recently published Encyclopedia of Indian Religions. The encyclopedia is a comprehensive work comprised of multiple volumes that took over 5 years to produce. The articles on Mashriqi and Tazkirah were written by Mashriqi’s grandson, scholar and historian Nasim Yousaf, and are contained in the volume entitled Islam, Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

Springer is a renowned international publisher with more than 2,900 journals and 250,000 books covering a range of topics from Astronomy to Computer Science to Social Sciences. Authors and contributors to Springer’s publications include highly accomplished individuals - including Nobel Prize Laureates - across multiple fields.

About Allama Mashriqi: Mashriqi was a world-famous mathematician, Islamic scholar, and revolutionary. Mashriqi fought bravely to liberate the Indian sub-continent from British rule. As a student, Mashriqi was a genius who broke academic records at both the University of Punjab and the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom). He later became a Fellow at the most prestigious scholarly societies of Europe and also emerged as one of the most educated politicians of his time. In 1943, Indian writer Hiralal Seth wrote in his book (“The Khaksar Movement Under Searchlight and the Life Story of its Leader Allama Mashraqi”):

“In the Indian political field, and in this we include the [Indian National] Congress as well as the [All-India] Muslim League, there is no such leader who has had an exceptionally brilliant academic career. Allama Mashraqi is the only political leader of India who has this distinction.”

A talented leader like him, who completely devoted his life to uniting people regardless of faith and uplifting the masses, is born once in centuries.

About Tazkirah: Tazkirah, authored by Mashriqi, interprets the Holy Quran from a scientific perspective. While writing this book, Mashriqi used his vast multi-disciplinary knowledge of Islam and other religions, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Mechanical Sciences, and Oriental languages (now commonly known as Asian languages). The book drew tremendous interest from both the East and the West. In 1925, intellectuals and famous personalities from British India and Europe nominated Tazkirah for the Nobel Prize in Literature. These men included Sahibzada Aftab Ahmed Khan (Vice Chancellor of Aligarh University), Sir Abdul Qadir, Sir Fazal Hussain, Professor Maison of France, and Dr. Sohaddon (Professor of Geography). Distinguished Professor Reynold Alleyne Nicholson of the University of Cambridge also translated Tazkirah and sent a copy to Mashriqi.

About the Author: Scholar and historian Nasim Yousaf, who lives in the USA, has been conducting research on South Asian history for approximately two decades. During this time, his works have been published in books, prestigious academic journals and encyclopedias, and in newspapers around the world. Among his most valuable contributions is a digital compilation of Allama Mashriqi’s historic weekly newspaper, Al-Islah. His books are available in renowned research libraries across multiple continents (from Asia to Africa to Europe to the Americas), including the Library of Congress, Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Stanford, Yale, University of Pennsylvania, University of Chicago, McGill, Cambridge, Oxford, SOAS, and the National Libraries of Australia, Scotland, and Sweden. More information about the author is available on the internet and on social media.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is causally linked to acute and chronic form of hepatitis, which due to continuous immune mediated inflammation and scarring may lead to cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV spread via exchange of infected bodily fluids underlie unique public health considerations due to similarities with other community related issues such as sexually transmitted diseases (eg HIV) blood borne pathogens (Hepatitis-C) and perinatal transmissions (TORCH complex).

this report is about the fish resources in bangladesh. bangladesh has rivers, beels, haors and a huge coastal area. the sector can be divided in to 3 sub sectors and they are inland captured fish, inland culture fish and marine fish. <br>

Osman living in a rooftop room dreams of his father’s death but finds himself in a distorted fact no less horrible. All he witnesses sometime seem hallucination sometime real. It’s a time when receiving news of someone’s being shot dead appear normal to Osman. The environs reflect situation of mass suffocation pressed under hideous images of late sixties Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan. Osman’s personal life reveals as abnormal, so does the public life. Even lamenting upon a dear one’s odd death is as if restricted. “It’s risky to answer” of any normal query! The first chapter of Elias’ Rooftop Soldier engulfs the readers with inner happenings of atypical socio-political state of pre-liberation Bengali life depicted with the unique language and style. The following translated piece from one of the best classic fiction of Bangla literature will surely be an astounding experience for world’s literature lovers.

The book uses an ethnographic approach to explore why the Tablighi Jamaat movement remains so successful in contemporary times. It shows that this success results from the positive image that it cultivates, and the systematic preaching activities of Tablighi Jamaat followers, and that the organisation’s apolitical image, the public profile of the ijtema, the humbleness of Tablighi followers, and the attraction of belonging to the global Tablighi community all help to create a positive image of the Tablighi Jamaat among ordinary Muslims. The book also argues that the Tablighi Jamaat remains successful because of its ability to hold its followers within a Tablighi-guided life, which is perceived as protection against the Western lifestyle. Many elements of contemporary Western lifestyle are considered non-Islamic, and so by clearly defining what is Islamic and non-Islamic in modern society, the Tablighi Jamaat provides a way in which Muslims can live in the contemporary world, but remain good Muslims.

Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) has long played an important role in Japan’s diplomacy, contributing significantly toward stability and economic development of less developed nations of Asia. This paper analyzes Japan’s ODA to Bangladesh, focusing specifically on its transformation over the past three decades in response to the changing needs and priorities of the two countries. The paper highlights the uniqueness of Japanese ODA to Bangladesh and critically examines the gaps between policy and practice that occasionally hindered effective utilization of ODA. It suggests new directions that Japan’s ODA may take in the future, more compatible and mutually beneficial to the goals and interests pursued by the two countries.

আমাদের জাতীয় জীবনে ১৯৭১ সাল একটি অতীব তাৎপর্যপূর্ণ বছর। এই বছরই বাংলাদেশ পাকিস্তানি ঔপনিবেশিক শাসন-শোষণের নাগপাশ থেকে মুক্ত হয়। মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময় পাকিস্তানি বাহিনীর দোসর হিসেবে কাজ করেছিল এদেশীয় রাজাকার, আলবদর, আলশামস নামধারী কিছু নরপশু। দীর্ঘদিন পর হলেও বর্তমানে এসব রাজাকার, আলবদর নেতার বিচার হচ্ছে। এই বিচার চলাকালে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের ইতিহাস বিকৃতি নিয়ে স্বাধীনতাবিরোধীরা মাঠে নেমেছে। এই বিকৃতির অন্যতম লক্ষ্যবস্তু হচ্ছে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময় সংগঠিত নির্মম গণহত্যায় প্রাণ হারানো মানুষের সংখ্যা। যদিও যেকোনো গণহত্যাতেই সংখ্যা প্রধান বিচার্য বিষয় নয়, তারপরও সংখ্যার একটি সাংকেতিক তাৎপর্য রয়েই যায়। এই প্রবন্ধে যুক্তি দেখানো হয়েছে, ১৯৭১ সালে বাংলাদেশের মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময়কার গণহত্যায় নিহত মানুষের সংখ্যা ৩০ লাখের কম নয়। বিভিন্ন আন্তর্জাতিক প্রচারমাধ্যম এবং গবেষণাপত্র ব্যবহার করে এই দাবির সত্যতা উপস্থাপন করা হয়েছে। অন্যদিকে ১৯৭১-এর গণহত্যায় নিহতের সংখ্যা নিয়ে বঙ্গবন্ধু শেখ মুজিবুর রহমানকে ঘিরে ‘৩ লক্ষ বনাম ৩ মিলিয়ন’ শিরোনামে যে বিতর্ক করা হয়, তার জবাবও খোঁজার চেষ্টা করা হয়েছে এই প্রবন্ধে। এ ছাড়া দীর্ঘ ৯ মাসের যুদ্ধে ভারতের শরণার্থী শিবিরগুলোতে মারা যাওয়া মানুষদের কেন গণহত্যার শিকার বিবেচনা করা উচিত, সে যুক্তিগুলোও প্রবন্ধে উপস্থাপন করা হয়েছে। পরিশেষে বিশ্বের আরও কয়েকটি উল্লেখযোগ্য গণহত্যার সঙ্গে তুলনামূলক ব্যাখ্যার সাহায্যে মুক্তিযুদ্ধের সময়কার গণহত্যায় যে ৩০ লাখের অধিক বাঙালি গণহত্যার শিকার হওয়া কোনো মিথ নয়, বরং বাস্তবতা তা তুলে ধরা হয়েছে।

Publisher's abstract:
Bangladesh did not exist as an independent state until 1971. Willem van Schendel’s state-of-the-art history navigates the extraordinary twists and turns that created modern Bangladesh through ecological disaster, colonialism, partition, a war of independence and cultural renewal. In this revised and updated edition, Van Schendel offers a fascinating and highly readable account of life in Bangladesh over the last two millennia. Based on the latest academic research and covering the numerous historical developments of the 2010s, he provides an eloquent introduction to a fascinating country and its resilient and inventive people. A perfect survey for travellers, expats, students and scholars alike.

Table of Contents

List of Plates
List of Maps and Figures
Acknowledgements
Timeline
Preface to second edition

Introduction
Part I. The Long View
1. A land of water and silt
2. Jungle, fields, cities and states
3. A region of multiple frontiers
4. The delta as a crossroads

Part II. Colonial Encounters
5. From the Mughal empire to the British empire
6. British legacies
7. A closing agrarian frontier
8. Colonial conflicts
9. Towards Partition
10. Partition
11. Population exchange

Part III. Becoming East Pakistan
12. The Pakistan experiment
13. Pakistan falls apart
14. East Pakistani livelihoods
15. The roots of aid dependence
16. A new elite and cultural renewal

Part IV. War and the Birth of Bangladesh
17. Armed conflict
18. A state is born
19. Imagining a new nation

Part V. Independent Bangladesh
20. Shaping a political system
21. The triumph of identity politics
22. Transnational linkages
23. Boom or bust?
24. Gender movements
25. A national culture?
Conclusions

Bangladesh district maps
Key political figures since 1947
Glossary of Bengali terms
Notes
Bibliography
Index


Links:
https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/history-bangladesh-2nd-edition?format=PB


https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/south-asian-history/history-bangladesh-2nd-edition?format=PB


https://books.google.se/books?id=Io7mDwAAQBAJ&pg=PR4&dq=bangladesh+history+2020&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjf4pi6v8LqAhWy5KYKHaftB80Q6AEwAHoECAAQAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

This book provides some thoughtful articles on the contemporary issues of Bangladesh education. Most of the writers are young in age and they all are working in education sector of Bangladesh. Through this book, one can know what your people are thinking on current education situation of Bangladesh.

The aim of the paper is to highlight the variables that determine the propensity to receive remittances and the amount of remittances by households in rural Bangladesh. The empirical model incorporated the determinants of remittances in terms of observed migrant and household characteristics that are assumed to capture the underlying motives of remitting suggested by existing theories of remittances. This paper explores the motives that account for the receipt of remittances across rural households in Bangladesh who have migrants in Italy. Unlike most of the existing literature, the research question from the perspective of the recipient household and use it to interpret the determinants/motivations of remittances. The results show that a combination of household and migrant characteristics and some community level variables are the key elements in explaining the remittance behaviour in Bangladesh. Drawing from these estimates, this study conclude that altruism investment and kinship are the three main motives behind remittance flows to Bangladesh and both community variables (NELM and presence of networks in the host country) are strong determinants of the likelihood of receiving remittances by households.

There is a saying that if you want to do or be something in your life then 1st know its origin, because without knowing the origin of anything you may not be able to create new things or change anything in your life. The subject is itself a mirror to know your origin and country for better good.

« Southeast Asian Buddhist Monks in the Peregrinação: Tracing the “Rolins” of Fernão Mendes Pinto in the Eastern Bay of Bengal », Jorge M. dos Santos Alves (ed.), Fernão Mendes Pinto and the Peregrinação. Studies, Restored Text, Notes and Indexes, Lisbonne, Fundação Oriente et Imprensa Nacional-Casa da Moeda, vol. 1, p. 145-162.

Fairs and festivals have always played a significant role in the life of the citizens of this country.
They derive from them a great amount of joy, entertainment and color for life. While most of
the festivals have sprung from religious rituals, the fairs have their roots in the very heart of
the people, irrespective of religion, caste or creed.

Religious and other communal violence, though they are ever recurring phenomenon in South Asia, in its modern history it is increasing dramatically day by day. People in South Asia are becoming more and more violent. The main cause of communal violence in South Asia is more or less related to religion, ethnicity, and fundamentalist ideology and so on. In this paper firstly I mentioned different scholars thought regarding South Asian communal violence and its historical root. Some of the authors blame the British ‘’Divide and Rule’’ policy and some others argued that Muslim invaders are responsible for religious and communal violence in South Asia. Then I discussed different south Asian counties communal violence from the 20th century to the present time era. I’ve explained also some communal violence incident which occurred in different parts of South Asia.

Çalışma, on birinci asırdan günümüze tasavvufun Bangladeş’teki yaklaşık bin yıllık görünürlüğü üzerinedir. Bölge insanının tarih ve kültürü üzerindeki etkisi panoramik tarzda ortaya konmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu çerçevede tasavvufun bölgedeki ilk izlerine, toplumdaki etki ve nüfuzları itibariyle Kadiriyye, Çiştiyye, Nakşbendiyye, Sühreverdiyye, Kübreviyye ve Şazeliyye’ye, sufilerin kurumları vasıtasıyla sosyo-kültürel hayattaki tesirlerine değinilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Bangladeş, Tasavvuf, Tarikat,  Hankâh, Çok kültürlü yaşam.

This first book-length study on kanthas published outside of South Asia focuses on two premier collections, one assembled by the legendary historian of Indian art, Dr. Stella Kramrisch, the other by Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz, leading proponents of self-taught art. Created from worn-out garments imaginatively embroidered by women with motifs and tales drawn from a rich regional repertoire, kanthas traditionally were stitched as gifts for births, weddings, and other family occasions. Innovative essays by leading scholars explore the domestic, ritual, and historical contexts of the fascinating quilts in these collections - made between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries in what is today Bangladesh and West Bengal, India - and trace their reinterpretation as emblems of national identity and works of art.

This paper contains information about the tea stalls of Bangladesh and the stall's owners. It discusses their day to day activities. What they do and how they do it. It also contains advice about improving their business by making several changes.They open their stall around 6 am and work until 11 pm. People from all walks of life comes to sip tea at these stalls. They gossip about many things.

On 31th December 2017 the Bangladesh Law Commission published a final Report on The Negotiable Instruments Act,1881. The Report incorporates mainly four major recommendations to amend the existing Act. A draft Amendment Act incorporating the recommendations is also annexed with the report. The Report can be accessed from the Law Commission’s website http://www.lc.gov.bd

The scope of this article is to critically analyze the recommendations put forward by the Law Commission and also to answer to the question whether these recommendations are exhaustive or not.

According to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs(1) a person has an undeniable potential to seek out and fulfil as many self-actualising goals as possible at each level of their wellbeing. Given that basic physiological needs such as nutrition are present in ample and steady amounts; such a person may progress to more developed stages such as acquiring economic safety, prestige, intimacy, kinship etc. Children in particular desire to be safe or at least perceive an environment of safety under adult supervision. In the setting of poverty and inequalities in general, therein lies the unjust burden of existence on poor children in poor backgrounds.

A language is considered as a sexist language if it conveys attitudes that stereotype a person according to gender rather than judging on individual merits. Feminists believe that English language is a sexist language because it involves negative attitudes towards women and maintains social inequalities between men and women. There are many English metaphors used to describe women in disagreeable manner, but this is rarely a case with men. Animal, food and villainous imageries are highly used to refer to women, such as: bitch, chick,-sugar, honey, tomato,-witch and so on. Animal imageries compare women with helpless creatures, food imageries with items used for sustenance and pleasure, and villainous imageries with evil creatures. More or less, in every society, women are believed to be weak and subordinate to men who are considered to be masculine. Even by linguistic items, men are presented as the head of societies. English morphology generally takes the male form as the base form, and adds suffix to construct the female form, for example: lion-lioness, tiger-tigress, actor-actress, etc. Suffix 'ess' carries connotations of lack of seriousness. By using the words 'he' and 'man' as generic forms, women are kept invisible and undermined. My first language is Bengali, so it was a question as to whether my language is also a sexist one. Sexism is also a usual feature of Bengali language, and even a careless observation on daily language can help identify the presence of sexism in Bengali. Women are sometimes referred by the following villainous imageries: Rakkhoshi (রাক্ষসী) = female monster; daini (ডাইনী) = witch. Even in terms of morphology, male form appears to be the base form in Bengali language, such as: chakor-chakrani (চাকর-চাকরানী) = servant-maidservant, shingho-shinghi (সসিংহ-সসিংহী) = lion-lioness, etc. Even names of Bengali children follow sexism; a male child is never named Nodi (নদী) = river and a female child is never named Shagor (সাগর) = sea. Even by means of names, men are presented as a strong figure and women as the subordinate figures who possess lesser strength comparing to their opposite gender. From the above discussion, it is obvious that both Bengali and English are sexist languages; delve into your language to discover sexism in your language.

Throughout the recorded history, the Middle East has been playing a vital role in the global geopolitics. The significant geographic characteristics supplemented by an enormous oil reserve has turned the region as one the most highlighted geopolitical areas of the present-day international relations. The Middle East also contains some of the world's key oil choke points and straits by which petroleum has been supplied throughout the world, especially to the European, American and East Asian countries. Traditionally, the geopolitical structure of the region has been branded by military dictatorships and monarchies, largely backed by the western powers. However, the outset of the Arab Spring in December 2010 had paved the way to notice that the popular democratic uprising in these traditional authoritarian countries is about to bring a significant structural shift in the geopolitics of the entire region. Some scholars supported this observation based on the historical illustration of the outsets of 1989 Central and Eastern European movements for democracy. But, after more than three years, it is quite visible that the feeble application of Arab Spring for freedom and democracy could not bring about overnight shifts to the regional geopolitical calculations.

This study builds an aim to find the positive forces which inspires people in becoming entrepreneurs, implementing change management, technical know-how for leading and managing change in entrepreneurship, in microcosm the barriers related to development of entrepreneurship in Bangladesh such as personal, judicial, economic, and personal. This article is, in a way, covered by secondary data which is collected from cases, various published materials, research articles, monographs and experts reviews on this subject, the findings pointing out new scopes and existing advantages from sociocultural, government perspective. The study also come up with best using the advantages available, implementing changes in Organization overcoming those barriers for entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh, identifying top leadership actions an entrepreneur should implement.

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This course is designed to introduce students to an array of places and peoples i n South-, Southeast-, and East-Asia, using a multidisciplinary lens. We will consider the making of Asian "nations" and "ethnicities." We will seek out interconnectivity and blurring between these groupings, as we study state apparatuses, migration, and histories. And we will probe seemingly mundane factors o f everyday life, such as food, music, and television. Our aim is to disrupt neat and nationalistic notions of "tradition," "culture," and "history." In exploring "modernization" and "development" in Asia, we aim to denaturalize and politicize these terms, and give attention to their stratified outcomes in terms of class, region, gender, religion, and ethnicity. We seek to question the "Asian Miracle," and better understand post-colonial, developmentalist, and neoliberal regimes as they impact everyday lives in Asia.

আবুল মনসুর আহমদ ছিলেন একজন সমাজ সচেতন এবং জীবনঘনিষ্ঠ সাহিত্যিক। সমাজ এবং পরিপার্শ্বের ধর্মীয় এবং রাজনৈতিক কুসংস্কার, বিরোধ, ভণ্ডামি এবং ধর্মব্যবসার বিপক্ষে তিনি সারাজীবন সোচ্চার ছিলেন।

সুতীক্ষ্ণ দৃষ্টিতে মানুষের এই বিভ্রম এবং বিপথগামিতাকে যেমন লক্ষ্য করেছেন, একইসাথে তা হাস্যরসের মাধ্যমে পাঠকের সামনে তুলে ধরে তার অন্তর্নিহিত বেদনাটুকু পাঠকের হৃদয়ে জাগ্রত করার চেষ্টা করেছেন। এজন্যই তাঁর পক্ষে 'আদুভাই'য়ের মত সূক্ষ্ম রসবোধসম্পন্ন সুপরিচিত হাস্যরসের গল্প লেখা যেমন সম্ভব হয়েছে, একইসাথে সমাজে জেঁকে বসা পীরপ্রথার কুৎসিত দিকগুলোকে যথাযথ রূপে উপস্থাপন করতে 'হুযুর কেবলা'র মত কালজয়ী শক্তিশালী গল্পও তিনি লিখতে পেরেছেন।

The foreign policy of Bangladesh is tied closely to the realities of its economic condition. Since independence the country has required a great deal of foreign assistance in the effort to keep its people fed and to build, for the first time, a modern society. Under these circumstances, it has been important for successive regimes to seek good relations with all nations and to attract economic aid from every possible source (see Foreign Assistance , ch. 3). Bangladesh has therefore cultivated good relations with both the United States and the Soviet Union, and their respective allies, but it has remained unaligned with either superpower. In an attempt to stimulate regional development plans, Bangladesh has been instrumental in organizing regional economic cooperation in South Asia. It has also been active in international organizations, especially in those dedicated to solving the economic problems of the poorer countries of the world. Despite its poverty and small military capability, Bangladesh has not hesitated to defend its sovereignty and to take strong stands on many international issues. Any hint that India might try to intimidate Bangladesh or encroach on its territorial rights has quickly elicited a powerful, nationalistic response from all levels of society. Furthermore, Bangladesh has annoyed both superpowers by standing against them on various major issues, and relations with both the United States and the Soviet Union have gone through difficult periods. A major component of Bangladesh's self-assertiveness has been evident in its efforts to focus on its Islamic heritage and its quest for fraternity with the worldwide Muslim congregation. The friendly relations it has enjoyed with Islamic nations have led to the receipt of economic aid from wealthy Arab countries.

Bangladesh-China bilateral relationship has its foothold right through the historical records of two thousand years. Ever since the establishment of the formal diplomatic relationship in October 1975, Bangladesh and China continued to be closer friends and development partners. Their relationship is often termed as 'trusted friendship' or 'all weather friendship'. Successful bilateral cooperation between Bangladesh and China has been attained in a number of sectors, including politics, economy, military and culture. Over the years, they have signed quite a lot of bilateral treaties, agreements, and memoranda of understandings on mutual economic engagement, cultural sharing, infrastructure development, educational exchange and military support. Mutual reciprocity based on shared interests has largely contributed to keep Bangladesh-China bilateral relations sustainable over time. In this milieu, the objective of the present study is to offer a comprehensive approach to Bangladesh-China bilateral relations at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It elucidates the historical development of this bilateral relationship; goes through its various dimensions; identifies major challenges; and suggest a bunch of policy imperatives to foster this friendship.

This paper tries to highlight the dysfunctional relationship of the indigenous people and their rights. Despite having the treaties and conventions, indigenous people are not getting the proper access to their rights. This paper tries to get an insight on the reality of their rights and conditions.

There is fundamentally more to Baul spirituality and scripture than merely the music and lyrics that one comes by, and conceivably nobody can ‘delve deep’ into the music form without having some basic understanding and concepts about its tottyo. This book
is an attempt to understand and explain the intricacies of the Baul scriptures. The esoteric couplets, sentences and arguments that usually have moral or historical over tone, the pointed reminders, the signature lines, and the over all thrust of arguments within a very short periphery of time, the alankar (embellishments), all mesh in and combine to create a completed aura of ethereal munificence. Baul music with exceptions follows different traditions and Guru’s in every district of Bangladesh, and sometimes each has its own unique Guru Shishya parampara (student/teachers discourses), leading on to birth of newer, progressive and more challenging schools of thoughts.

While Fakir Lalon Shah is the most celebrated of sages of Bangladesh, the schools of Baul thought encapsulates perhaps several hundred more sages and men of great wisdom, whose writings and philosophies continue to inspire and whose graves
more often than not, take on the shape of shrines, usually devoid of any religious or sectarian symbolism. Being an oral tradition Baul music ironically is also one of our near extinct heritages as most of the works have either disappeared or have been claimed by
unscrupulous people over time. Studies on authorship of many Baul songs (including those of Lalon) and their relevance to original scores and or manuscripts remains a very complicated process and is mired by many unfortunate controversies. To top it off, it is believed that while there were over 300 different types of Baul melodies or tunes; today we are left with scarcely 35. While researching the Bauliana album, I could identify only 20 authentic tunes.

The essays ‘Bauliana: Worshipping the Great God in Man’ in 2003 were written through a feeling of guilt and remorse. While I did receive praise for my work for the musical album of 1996, troubling me intently was a feeling of not been able to share the many
words of wisdom that were imparted to me by the Baul’s over the years to a wider audience, teachings I was sure would benefit a lot of later day enthusiasts. I had made scores of notes at the time, as also consigned most of the teachings to memory but there was always a deep apprehension, that unless my writings were passed on hand to
hand; all the hard work that went into it, will fail my original intention i.e. opening newer dimensions into reading on Baul music, lyrics, philosophy and way of life.