Lalon Shah (c. 1774–1890), the Baul mystic of Cheuriya in Kushtia, sang that God lives not in temple or mosque but in the human heart — and refused to the end to say whether he was born Hindu or Muslim. His songs remain the soul of Bengal's Baul tradition.
Shah Abdul Karim (1916–2009) was a poor farmer's son from Ujan Dhol village in Sunamganj who became the Baul Samrat — the Baul King — of Bengal. With his ektara and more than 1,500 songs, including the communal-harmony anthem "Age Ki Sundor Din Kataitam", he carried the mystic philosophy of the haor wetlands to the whole of Bangladesh, receiving the Ekushey Padak in 2001.
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