Skip to main content

Shantiniketan - Sonajhuri Haat in the Land of Bauls

Shantiniketan is known to everybody for its contribution on culture, arts and education. The first name that comes to our mind is Rabindranath Tagore whenever we speak about Shantiniketan. Shantiniketan is a bengali word which means "Adobe of Peace". Rabindranath's father built a house there and called it Shantiniketan, later Rabindranath stayed at that place and built several other buildings. Shantiniketan can be reached both by road and train. It is 180 kms from Kolkata and the drive time is around 3 hours.

We all know about this. We have been to Shantiniketan several times. But there is a weekly market in Shantiniketan that is becoming overly popular these days and people are visiting Shantiniketan just to visit the market. There is a patch of forest known as Sonajhuri beside Shantiniketan. The river Khowai flows beside the forest. If you visit this forest in winter you will find tiny golden sonajhuri flowers. The word sona means gold in bengali. The weekly market takes place in a clean path within the Sonajhuri forest. Hence the market is known as Sonajhuri Haat or Khaoyai Haat.

The main characteristic of this market is that the local people brings hand made products and sells them. From kurtas to sarees, house decorating items, ek tara etc can be found here. Sonajhuri haat is colorful. There is a sense of art and music all over the market. People selling flute can play them so well that you will have to stop and listen. You will find artist drawing portraits, musician playing music using flute or ektara or local adibasis dancing in group. Many Biswabharati student also come to the haat to play music. There is no electric supply here hence no loud speakers are used. This place attracts a lot of photographers due to these reasons. Sonajhuri haat is must visit place if you are a nature lover, art lover or a music lover.









Shantiniketan or Birbhum is also known as the land of Bauls. If you read the wiki you will know that Bauls are a group of mystic minstrels who believed in simplicity and love. They can often be identified by their distinctive clothes and musical instruments.. Although Bauls comprise only a small fraction of the Bengali population, their influence on the culture of Bengal is considerable. In 2005, the Baul tradition of Bangladesh was included in the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. Over the years number of buals have decreased exponentially but their folk music known as Baul Song is highly appreciated all over the world. In modern age Rabindranath Tagore has a massive influence on the popularity of baul songs, he promoted and spoke about bauls at large. He even wrote few many folk songs inspired by them.

Bauls pour out their feelings in their songs but never bother to write them down. Theirs is essentially an oral tradition. They use a number of instruments but Ektara and Dotara are the main ones. The reason I am talking about Bauls is you will get to see them if you are at Sonajhuri haat. They gather in small groups, usually 3-4 member and sit under a tree and will sing. Despite of not using any loud speaker you can hear a baul singing from far. Their voice is very sharp and the pitch of the song can get attention quickly. Baul songs are very interesting and you will love the lyrics.





Spending 3-4 hours at this market isnt a big deal. However as there is not electricity the market is open till the time light is available. This market is open on saturdays only. So if you are there on a Sunday you would probably see nothing. If you are visiting Sonajhuri I would suggest to stay in Sonajhuri itself. We stayed at Prantik which is 3 kms from Sonajhuri as we couldnt find accommodation at the last moment. Ya, book in advance as there is less or no chance of finding a hotel in Sonajhuri after you have arrived.

**Information from Wiki

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Our journey from hatchback to SUV- Finding the perfect one

So many things have happened over the past few years, so many things have changed. We were frequent road trippers, we had a large group of friends who loved to travel in Kolkata. And every alternate month Sikkim was our place to go. Covid changed everything. It made us stay at home and cancel most of our plans. Most of us are affected by Covid in some manner, directly or indirectly. But not all that happened was bad. We also became parents last year, blessed with a beautiful baby boy. And while I am writing this article after 2 years our little toddler is playing beside me with toy cars. The last piece I was writing was on our Bhutan road trip. It is still in draft and I don't think I will ever finish it. Memories have started to fade and small details I can't remember anymore. Of course, there are pictures and videos of Bhutan but now there are more important things to do and remember. (P.S - Bhutan road trip was fantastic, sharing a photo here) I moved to England in 2019. My

Weekend Drive to Ayodhya Hills

If you want to visit a place other than the beach and Himalayas you are left with the midlands. There isn't anything called "midlands" in West Bengal, I came up with the name because the area I want to refer to sits in the middle. So Purulia, Bankura, and Burdwan are midlands according to me. There are various small hills, forests, and water reserves in Purulia which can be perfect weekend destinations for Bengalis. I have already been to Garpanchkot last time so this time we decided to go to Ayodhya hills. Ajodhya Hills is located in the Purulia district of the state West Bengal, India. It is a part of the Dalma Hills and an extended part of the Eastern Ghats range. The highest peak of Ajodhya Hills is Gorgaburu. The nearby populated town area is Bagmundi. There is a myth that is related to Ramayana, but that is not the reason why its name is Ayodhya. According to Hindu mythology, Rama and Sita had come to Ayodhya Hills and stayed during their exile. Sita was thirsty an