Human Above All Else

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“Everyone wonders, “What is Lalon's Caste?”

Lalon says, “I've never 'seen' the face of Caste with these eyes of mine!”

These words from Fakir Lalon Shah's (c. 1774– 17 October 1890) famous song “Lalon Ki jaat?” reflect the bewilderment that a man claiming association with no particular faith or caste evoked in the minds of the people of his time. The genius of Lalon's poems and the depth of his philosophy originated from his recognition of the absurdity of relying on mere labels to dictate our understanding of the world and fellow humans.

Lalon sings “Some wear a garland and some the tasbi, that's what marks the faiths apart- But what marks them apart when one is born or at the time of death?” Here Lalon conveys a simplicity of thought based on common sense yet a deep wisdom based on a reverence for truth, truth uncomplicated and unburdened by the labels we create, truth as it is and not as we mould it.

It is a fact that more wars have been fought and more blood shed in the name of religion than for any other cause. Religion, being a system of moral law, social unity and spiritual evolution, oftentimes appears to violate the very ideals it promotes. If diversity of thought was so opposed by the creator then why would he create so many different races, languages, cultures and unique fingerprints? Clearly God didn't create so many unique cultures to send one group to paradise and all else to the inferno. Lalon was born amidst the mindless division and animosity between the Hindus and Muslims. Once, having contracted a life threatening virus, Lalon was left in his condition on the banks of the river Ganges by his companions. When a Muslim woman Motijan discovered the suffering youth she and her husband Malam Shah took him in and nursed him back to rehabilitation. Upon returning to his village Lalon was shocked and heartbroken when his community cast him away; the majority of its members being Hindus, they now considered him an outcast for associating with a Muslim family. Thus he began a preordained mission to teach mankind brotherhood and acceptance through his simple yet profound poetry and music.

Over the course of his life Lalon not only composed over 300 songs leaving us with deeply enriched folk music tradition but also gave refuge to the rejected, abused or ridiculed members of society at his Akhra in Kushtia, which later became his shrine. Truly a shrine, Lalon's Akhra represents the idyllic vision of a community of men and women who belonging to different faiths, castes and classes, abandon labels and live together as fellow “humans", our only true label.