Bhaba Pagla

© Parvathy Baul & Ravi Gopalan Nair
 
Bhaba Pagla was born in 1902, in the village Amta of Manikganjo, Dhaka, in Bangladesh.
He was born in a Shakta family.
Bhaba Pagla was the sixth child of his parents.
As a child he grew up in a spiritual environment, and these circumstances developed in him a very humble and sweet disposition.
From a very young age he was tuned to spiritual presence within.
He was reluctant to pursue a conventional education.
In his teenage years he used to sing Kirtan unto the Kali idol that was established in his ancestor's house.
He used to write songs by his instinctive poetry.
 
In many of his songs we can see Krishna, Kali, and Shiva all become one.
In 1947 he moved from East Bengal to Kalna in Burdwan with his Kali idol.
He had established a Kali temple there.
Bhaba Pagla established six or seven Kaali temples on both sides of Bengal.
 
This woodcut depicts the great master as if sitting in the womb of a banyan tree and looking at the world.