Preserving authentic Lalon lyrics

Fakir Anwar Hossain

So far, only a few of Fakir Lalon Shah's verses have been documented by well-known names such as Kangal Harinath, Rabindranath Tagore and Mohammad Monsuruddin. Along the way there has been much deliberate and accidental distortion of Lalon's verses.

Fakir Anwar Hossain, known as Mantu Shah amongst the Lalon devotees, has preserved authentic lyrics of Fakir Lalon Shah in his book titled Lalon Sangeet (three volumes). He is using the manuscripts of Fakir Maniruddin Shah, a direct disciple of Fakir Lalon Shah. Maniruddin Shah was authorised by Lalon to note down the verses, for the documentation.

Professor Dr. Abul Ahsan Choudhury, a Lalon expert said, "Most of Fakir Maniruddin Shah's manuscripts are now untraceable. It is an appreciable effort by Mantu Shah, who under the guidance of seasoned Fakirs and Lalon singers is documenting the authentic lyrics of Lalon. He has so far presented over 800 songs, which is the largest documentation of Lalon songs in the country"

In fact Mantu Shah has been doing the documentation since 1960. To quote him, "My guru Fakir Kokil Shah instructed me to preserve all of the verses. Since then I've travelled the areas both in Bangladesh and India where the Lalon devotees live in search of Fakir Maniruddin Shah's manuscripts. So far I've found 20 manuscripts in the personal collection of the Fakirs as well as scholars and common people."

And Mantu Shah had to struggle a great deal in his endeavour to preserve this priceless heritage. The main problem was that many refused to part with the manuscripts. In addition, many manuscripts have been lost forever. Mantu Shah said, "I've published the verses that I could collect. And during documentation I took the help of a panel of Fakirs and Lalon singers such as Fakir Abdul Gani Shah (Bader Shah), Fakir Durlav Shah, Fakir Abdul Karim Shah and Fakir Bazlur Rahman Shah."

Mantu Shah stressed the need for the government to collect and preserve the manuscripts of Fakir Maniruddin Shah from personal collections. He also called for the publication of Lalon verses to avoid controversy about their authenticity.