The Honey Gatherers: Mimlu Sen and The Bauls. Talk and performance September 27, 2010

The Bauls are mystic-minstrels who synthesise elements of Sufism, Hinduism and Tantric Buddhism in order to enlighten the body through song, yet their way of life and philosophy are now under threat from globalisation. Mimlu Sen followed the group from shanty town to village, fair to festival through rural Bengal, gaining a mesmerizing view of their secret world, which she recounts in her fascinating book The Honey Gatherers. Combining biography, anthropology and travelogue, Mimlu reveals her own journey from upper-class Shillong to Europe and then back into the hinterlands of Bengal as the boshtomi (lifemate) of the now-famous Paban Das Baul. She discusses the mystics’ freedom and dignity and their complex philosophies in a special event that also features the Bauls performing their extraordinary music.

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