CHEURIA, Kushtia — The shrine of Lalon Sain in Cheuria has filled with hundreds of thousands of people gathering with Baul mystics. Lalon followers, sadhus and gurus have traveled from across Bangladesh and abroad. They sing: “Speak the truth, walk both paths, oh my mind.”
The Lalon remembrance festival is being held nationally this year to mark the 135th anniversary of Lalon Sain’s death. On the opening day Friday of the three-day program, literary critics and theorists from Bangladesh and abroad took part in discussions on Lalon.
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was the keynote speaker. In her remarks, Spivak presented Lalon in multifaceted form through his songs.
Poet and thinker Farhad Mazhar and fisheries and livestock adviser Farida Akhter were among the discussants.
Cultural affairs adviser Mostofa Sarwar Farooki could not attend in person but sent a video address. After the discussion, a documentary was screened in memory of the late Lalon singer Farida Parveen.
The three-day program includes discussions, cultural performances and Lalon song recitals. Singing will continue late into the night each day.
Hundreds of thousands of people from across the country gathered in Cheuria ahead of the three-day event. Baul mystics said they had never seen such a crowd before.
Kushtia District Commissioner and Lalon Academy president Abu Hasnat Mohammad Arefin said the administration was fully prepared with security and overall management for the festival.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report