The Bauls (বাউল) are a heterogeneous group of singer-practitioners of Bengal, spanning West Bengal and present-day Bangladesh. Recruited from Hindu and Muslim communities, they overlap with Bengali fakirs but do not form a single uniform religious organisation. The term can refer to performers and to initiates whose livelihoods do not depend on music.
Ethnographic accounts document cannabis smoking and offerings in particular Baul settings, as well as criticism from practitioners who abstain. Openshaw describes smoked ganja as classified by bartamān-panthī practitioners as "cooling" and "upward-moving". These observations should not be generalised into a requirement of all Baul practice. read more →
