Textbook (verbatim transcription): Hason Raja The Mystic Bard of Bangladesh
Verbatim transcription of the printed NCTB textbook pages.
Printed page 61
After completing the lesson students will be able to
A. Look at the pictures below. Do you know who they are or anything about them?
Figure
Description: Three portraits side by side: on the left, a painted profile of a bearded man with his hair tied in a knot; in the middle, a painted portrait of a man in a turban with a moustache; on the right, a photograph of an elderly man with long white hair.
A "bard" is one who writes poems and songs. A "mystic" is one who seeks truth and strives to become united with God through prayer and meditation. The pictures above are of three renowned mystic bards of Bangladesh: Lalon Shah, Hason Raja, and Shah Abdul Karim. They all wrote beautiful poems and songs to express their deep thoughts and feelings about God, life, and love for humankind.
B. Let us know more about the mystic poet Hason Raja. Read the following text:
Hason Raja was born in 1854, into a wealthy landlord family in Sylhet. He did not receive much formal education as a child. In his youth, he lived a life of luxury. He had everything- money, comfort and pleasure.
However, at one point in his life, he began to feel that these material possessions were meaningless. He gave away all his property and started to think deeply about the creator, life, death and humankind. He
Printed page 62
wrote about a thousand songs which reflected his thoughts. In 1906, he published a book called Hason Udash. The book had 206 songs in it. In his songs, he called himself 'Crazy Hason Raja', or 'Pagla Hason Raja'.
Another volume called Hason Raja Samagra (Complete Works of Hason Raja) was also published, which contained 500 poems and songs. Hason Raja's songs had always been popular in Sylhet, but very soon they spread all over Bangladesh and beyond. As you grow older, try to learn more about this great mystic poet through reading and listening to his songs.
Figure: Hason Raja
B1. Answer the following questions:
a. When was Hason Raja born? b. Where was he from? c. What was his youth like? d. Why did Hason Raja leave his life of comfort and pleasure? e. What was the other name by which Hason Raja was known?
B2. Practise reading the passage loudly giving proper attention to pronunciation, pause and intonation.
B3. Learn the meanings of the words:
comfort, luxury, pleasure, volume, crazy, contain, beyond, eminent
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