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Researchers note that Lalon was a close friend of Kangal Harinath, one of the contemporary social reformers and was a disciple of Lalon. Lalon lost the sight of his one eye in smallpox. They gave Lalon land to live where he founded a musical group and remained to compose and perform his songs, inspired by Siraj Sain, a musician of that village. One account relates that Lalon, during a pilgrimage to the temple of Jagannath with others of his native village, he contracted smallpox and was abandoned by his companions on the banks of the Kaliganga River, from where Malam Shah and his wife Matijan, members of the weaver community in a Muslim-populated village, Cheuriya, took him to their home to convalesce. It is not known whether he was born in a Hindu or a Muslim family. There are few reliable sources for the details of Lalon's early life as he was reticent in revealing his past. Lalon's name as written, in a late 19th-century manuscript, by his disciple and scribe Bholai Shah, in unconventional Bengali orthography. In 2004, Lalon was ranked number 12 in BBC's poll of the Greatest Bengali of all time. Every year on the occasion of his death anniversary, thousands of his disciples and followers assemble at Lalon Akhrah, and pay homage to him through celebration and discussion of his songs and philosophy for three days. His disciples dwell mostly in Bangladesh and West Bengal. Lalon founded the institute known as Lalon Akhrah in Cheuriya, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from Kushtia railway station. In his songs, Lalon envisioned a society where all religions and beliefs would stay in harmony. Widely celebrated as an epitome of religious tolerance, he was also accused of heresy during his lifetime and after his death. Regarded as an icon of Bengali culture, he inspired and influenced many poets, social and religious thinkers including Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, and Allen Ginsberg although he "rejected all distinctions of caste and creed". Lalon, also known as Fakir Lalon Shah, Lalon Shah, Lalon Fakir ( Bengali: লালন 1774 – 17 October 1890 Bengali: 1 Kartik 1179), was a prominent Bengali philosopher, author, Baul saint, mystic, songwriter, social reformer and thinker in British India.