Application of Proverbs in Bengali Baul Song/ বাংলা বাউল গানে প্রবাদের প্রয়োগ

Abstract

The field of proverbs is of particular importance in diversity and richness among the various streams of folk culture. Proverbs are more important than other branches of folklore because of their use in daily life. Proverb is the product of long practical experience of the nation. The daily essence of people’s life is reflected by this proverb. Proverbs originate from social consciousness rich in human experience. Our vision and experiences are mainly the human character or its nature that is signaled through proverbs. Its use started from the time of ancient Sanskrit literature. Many proverbs are found in ancient Vedas and others scriptures. Proverbs are also readily available in Buddhist literature. From our ancient Bengali literature ‘Charyapad’ to present day all types of literature have a relaxed use of proverbs.

            As the use of proverbs in poetry and literature conveys the momentum of language fluency, it increases the capacity of expression. Sometimes it helps to signal to underlying feeling. At the very end of middle-ages, the Baul Sadhana style developed in Bangladesh, their Baul songs also naturally used proverbs. Also we can say they were used arbitrarily. In most of the songs Bauls like Lalan Shah Fakir, Panj Shah, Duddu Shah, Chandidas Gosain, Jadubindu we can see the issues related to the spiritual path or the areas of success and failure of their own lifestyle, which have been expressed in a simple way by comparing them to our well-known proverbs. It can be seen that all such common proverbs are widely used in Baul songs. They are deeply embedded in the daily usage of Bengali folk life. Baul song’s folk appeal is further entrenched in appropriate application of those elements of contemporary Bengali life. As the presentation of the subject matter is simplified by the simile of the proverbs, so also the excellence of the lyricist of Baul is achieved. In the present research article we will review the area of application of proverbs in Bengali Baul songs.