Along Deep Lonely Alleys: Baul-Fakir-Dervish Of Bengal

Author: Sudhir Chakravarti
Translator: Utpal K Banerjee
Publisher: Niyogi Books
(Pp 390, ISBN 978-93-85285-69-1, Rs 595)

The book is a translation from the Bengali original Gobheer Nirjon Potheye. It throws light on the mystic minstrels that have been part of the Indian society for centuries. Not much is known about their art and lifestyle which is not only unique, but also intriguing. The author has extensively travelled to the remotest areas of Bengal such as Nadia, Murshidabad, Birbhum, and Bardhaman, to know more about them.

Tracing the distinctive strain of folkfore, music and spiritual beliefs, the book throws up certain characters which have no archetypes, lending a composite structure to all. The book highlights the contributions of the bauls, bairagis, dervishes, fakirs, sahajiyasin in the Indian society. All in all, a very good attempt to know the relatively unknown world.

– Vasu V