Completion of a major critical edition of hybrid Hindu-Muslim Baul songs of Bengal, with annotation, commentaries and discussion.

鲍尔人从西孟加拉邦(印度)和孟加拉国的印度教和穆斯林社区招募。在上个世纪的过程中，无论是在他们自己的国家，还是最近在全球范围内，他们都获得了作为“东方灵性”代表的标志性地位。他们的受欢迎程度是基于他们动听且常常令人费解的歌曲。我的建议是为学者和普通读者制作一个带有英文翻译、注释、评论和讨论的鲍尔歌曲评论版。理论上，任何宗教、阶级或性别的人都可以成为鲍尔人，但大多数人是从农村贫困社区招募的。因此，他们的歌曲通常是口头传播的，尽管许多歌曲是由学者和其他作家转录的。反过来，文集也以孟加拉原文出版，或被翻译成各种语言。然而，这些出版物有很多缺陷。例如，他们通常缺乏任何背景细节，要么关于作曲家(他的生活、血统等)，要么关于歌曲的收集者。翻译后的版本通常省略了歌曲的孟加拉原文，甚至没有提到这些歌曲的出处。所有这些都使它们在学术角度上几乎毫无用处。拟议的评论版旨在通过保留歌曲的孟加拉原版并提供其社会、历史和文化背景的细节来纠正这些不足之处。因此，它将作为一种学术工具具有价值。这本书将主要基于两个独特的手稿来源。与其他材料一起，这些材料以两位作曲家的歌曲为特色，Raj Khyapa(他自己写的)和Lalan Sai(由一位识字的弟子写的)。由门徒谱系创作的歌曲也将被包括在内，分别以印度教和穆斯林为主。这本书从逻辑上遵循了我和我的合著者S.N.Jha博士早期的工作，S.N.Jha博士是一位研究穆斯林鲍尔及其歌曲的专家。我即将出版的专著《书写自我...》考察了拉杰·凯亚帕的生活和哲学，使用了他的手稿的自传部分。Jha博士根据上面提到的第二份手稿，写了一本关于拉兰赛人的生平、哲学和歌曲的孟加拉语专著。我们共同拥有这一领域无与伦比的专业知识。鲍尔歌曲的早期版本倾向于优先于作曲家或歌手选择和解释编辑或收藏家的歌曲。因此，这些歌曲的精华、精神化的朗读受到了重视。在印度和孟加拉国，对这两种说法的解释越来越不同，分别是印度教和穆斯林。此外，许多歌曲中包含的对宗教权威和意识形态、宗派主义和传统性别关系的批评也被掩盖了。正是这种歌曲和诠释将在拟议的批评版中得到突出体现。无论他们来自穆斯林还是印度教社区，鲍尔人往往拥有共同的价值观。他们强调人的重要性，而不是一个人自己的宗教或社会团体的重要性，以及个人经验对宗教经文或权威的教导的重要性。他们声称，这是人与人之间的区别。同样，它们也挑战了传统的女性贬值。当代的“文明冲突”实际上在全球层面上复制了南亚长期存在的宗教“社区”分裂问题。如今，人们普遍认为伊斯兰教是一种铁板一块的“原教旨主义”信仰。强调伊斯兰教和印度教内部的另类、人文主义和性别平等的传统是至关重要的，以便抵消这样的宣传，即这种价值观是‘西方’文化所特有的，因此会受到穆斯林、印度教徒等的抵制。拟议的出版物旨在将这些另类的、但又传统的价值观传播到孟加拉以外。

Bauls are recruited from both Hindu and Muslim communities of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh. In the course of the last century, they attained iconic status as representatives of 'Eastern spirituality', both within their own countries and more recently on a global level. Their popularity is based on their beautiful and often enigmatic songs. My proposal is to produce a critical edition of Baul songs, with English translation, annotations, commentaries and discussion, for scholars and general readers. In theory, people of any religion, class or gender may become Baul, but most are recruited from rural, poor communities. As a result, their songs are typically transmitted orally, although many have been transcribed by scholars and other writers. In turn, collections have been published in their original Bengali or translated into various languages. However these publications have many failings. For example, they usually lack any background details, either about the composer (his life, lineage etc.), or the person from whom the song was collected. Translated versions normally omit the original Bengali version of the songs, or even any reference to a source for these. All this renders them virtually useless from a scholarly point of view. The proposed critical edition is intended to rectify these deficiencies, by retaining the original Bengali versions of the songs, and by providing details of their social, historical and cultural context. It will therefore be of value as a scholarly tool.. The volume will largely be based on two unique manuscript sources. Along with other materials, these feature the songs of two composers, Raj Khyapa (written in his own hand) and Lalan Sai (written by a literate disciple). Songs composed by disciples in their lineages, predominantly Hindu and Muslim respectively, will also be included. The proposed volume follows logically from earlier work by myself and my co-author, Dr S.N. Jha, a specialist on Muslim Bauls and their songs. My forthcoming monograph, 'Writing the self...' examines the life and philosophy of Raj Khyapa, using the autobiographical portion of his manuscript. Dr Jha has written a Bengali monograph on Lalan Sai's life, philosophy and songs, based on the second manuscript mentioned above. Together we possess an unparalleled expertise in this field. Earlier editions of Baul songs tended to privilege the selection and interpretation of songs of the editor or collector, over that of the composer or singer. As a result, elite, 'spiritualised' readings of the songs have been emphasised. Interpretations have been made along increasingly separate 'Hindu' and 'Muslim' lines, in India and Bangladesh respectively. Moreover, the critique of religious authorities and ideologies, of sectarianism and traditional gender relations, contained in many songs, has been obscured. It is this kind of song and interpretation which will be highlighted in the proposed critical edition. Whether they come from Muslim or Hindu communities, Bauls tend to share common values. They emphasise the importance of the human being, rather than one's own religious or social group, and of individual experience over the teachings of religious texts or authorities. These, they claim, divide person from person. Similarly, they also challenge the traditional devaluation of women. The contemporary 'clash of civilisations' in effect replicates on a global level long-term problems of religious 'communal' division in South Asia. Nowadays Islam in particular is widely thought to be a monolithic, 'fundamentalist' faith. Highlighting alternative, humanistic and gender-equal traditions from within Islam and Hinduism is essential at this time, in order to counteract propaganda that such values are peculiar to 'Western' culture, and therefore to be resisted by Muslims, Hindus etc. The proposed publication aims to disseminate these alternative, yet traditional values outside Bengal.