Jatibhed pratha ebam bamladeser baul samaj.

• Author: Das, Rahul Peter

The author of the next book (25) is the daughter of the author of the foregoing work. On page 4 she writes that her study is meant to prove the hypothesis that the Bauls are the result of a backlash against caste/class;(26) on page 47 she sees this proof as having been made. Though one could of course build a good case to support that hypothesis, it is difficult to see on what basis the present proof rests, for the book is not only lacking in clear argumentation, but even in a clear concept. What we do have is, firstly, a brief description of the Bauls and their thought and development, which is basically a mix of oft-repeated platitudes from sources seemingly chosen at random, interspersed with statistical data from fieldwork in two villages, without the two very different kinds of information being either properly delimited or correlated. The author seems to be out of her depth here, as also in the discussion on the etymology of baul (pp. 16-18), whose relevance here is moreover not easily perceivable.(27) After that comes a rather naive sketch, on lines similar to the above, of caste and its origins in Hindu Bengal, of class (and quasi-caste) distinctions among Bengali Muslims, interspersed with off-hand remarks on the causes of conversion to Islam and followed by very brief descriptions of six(28) "minor" syncretistic groups (p. 28: ksudra ksudra dharmiya gosthi) (including the Vaisnava Sahajiyas, whose syncretism with Islam, at least to any large degree, is debatable,(29) and who, in any case, constitute anything but a "minor" group). This is followed by some commonplaces on Baul protest against caste/class, where we also, however, find some interesting remarks on segregational tendencies amongst the Bauls themselves. Next come very brief sketches of the Bauls in the two villages already mentioned, along with pen portraits of three of their prominent leaders, followed by...