Portal:West Bengal/Selected pictures/15
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Baul singers at Santiniketan during colour festival Holi. Bauls are a group of mystic minstrels from Bengal, which comprises Bangladesh and West Bengal. Bauls constitute both a syncretic religious sect and a musical tradition used as a vehicle to express Baul thought. They can be often identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments, like the ektara. Though Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition was included in the list of "Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity" by UNESCO.
