Hason Raja/ হাছন রাজা Selected Songs of Hason Raja

A common theme in Hason Raja’s songs is what the Sufis call ‘fana’, or destruction of the individual ego. The passion and imagination of Hason Raja’s songs center round self-realization. Who am I? This everlasting and perpetual question was the source of his introspection that eventually led him to be a ‘lover’, ‘mad’ and a follower of Baulism. The songs of Hason Raja are classified into three categories: Prema or divine love, Vairagya or renunciation and Ucchanubhuti or realization of the Supreme. Shamsuzzaman Khan, an eminent folklore expert, in his introduction of the book, Hason Raja Shomogro, says: “In the songs of Hason Raja, what we see is the mix of Islamic ideas, beliefs and prejudices of Hindu religion and mythology, Sufism, Vaisnavism and Baulism.” Hason Raja হাছন রাজা, the third book of the series entitled ‘Bangla Bauls’ contains the English translation of the bard’s fifty selected songs.