in search of little tradition of folk islam: a study of … muslims in bengali folk songs like sufi...

International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS), 2015, Vol 2, No.8,64- 76. 64

Available online at http://www.ijims.com

ISSN: 2348 0343

In Search of Little Tradition of Folk Islam: A Study of Marefati Folk Songs in Bengal

:

Soumitra Kumar Sinha Associate Professor, Dept. of History, University of Kalyani, Nadia, W.B., India

Abstract Islamic contact with Bengal is as old as the role of the religion is significant in the historical

development of this region. Its importance does not simply consist in the fact that the undivided

Bengal saw the largest concentration of Muslims (about 34 millions) in the Indian Subcontinent and

that their present aggregate in divided Bengal makes them the second largest Muslim population in

the world after Indonesia. It is rather paradoxical that the phenomenon of Islamization in Bengal has

drawn far less academic attention than what would seem warranted by its historical significance.

The aim of the present paper is to investigate and explore the folk elements in the Bengali culture

and its impact on the Bengali Muslims. While exploring folk Islam or little tradition of Islam in

Bengal along with its syncretistic traditions I have tried to use the theory of Great Tradition and

Little Tradition propounded by Robert Redfield while studying Mexican peasant culture, which

later on applied by Milton Singer and Mckim Marriott to the Indian society. Since folk elements

have multiple strands, therefore, I have confined my discussion in reviewing contribution of

Bengali Muslims in Bengali folk songs like Sufi devotional songs Marefati and Murshidi with a

special emphasis on Marefati.

Keywords: Little tradition of Muslims, Marefati folk song, Islamic culture in Bengal, Composite

element in Bengal.

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in search of little tradition of folk islam: a study of … muslims in bengali folk songs like sufi...

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