Lalon Shah was a famous Baul guru, singer and composer of baul songs. According to tradition, he was born on 1774 into a Kayastha family in the village of Bhandara in Kushtia. Lalon intentionally remained silent about his childhood. So, nothing much about his early life could be known. As a young boy, Lalon caught smallpox and was abandoned in a critical condition. Siraj Sain, a Muslim fakir, picked up the child and nursed him back to health. Lalon was later inducted as a Baul fakir. He set up an akhda at Chheuriya, where he lived with his wife and a few disciples.

Lalon was a humanist who completely rejected all distinctions of caste and creed. He was one of the most brilliant and philosophically insightful minds born in oral and textual traditions who expressed his ideas in beautiful songs and wonderful musical compositions using instruments that could be made by any rural households from materials available at home: an Ektara (a one string musical instrument) and a dugdugi (a hand drum). His songs were sung not only by his followers but also by non-Bauls. In Lalon one finds critical re-appropriation of the various philosophical positions emanating from the legacies of Hindu, Jaina, Buddha and Islamic traditions developing into a coherent discourse without falling into the mixes of being syncretic.

Some of his famous songs are 'Khachar bhitor auchin pakhi', 'Jat gelo', 'Dekhna mon jhokmariay duniyadari', 'Paare loye jao amay', 'Milon hobe koto dine', 'Aar amare marishne maa', etc.

He had a perceptible influence on the poet Rabindranath Tagore, who introduced the Baul tradition of Bangla to the world. His own music had been influenced by the diversity of Baul tradition.

In 1963, a mausoleum and a research center were built at the site of his akhda. Thousands of Bauls come to the akhda twice a year, Dol-Purnima, in the month of Falgun (February-March) and in October, on the occasion of his death anniversary. During these three-day song melas, Bauls pay rich tributes to their spiritual leader.

Lalon Shah left no written copies of his songs, which were transmitted orally and only later transcribed by his followers. Kangal Harinath Majumdar (1833-1896) was his direct disciple. Rabindranath Tagore also published some of Lalon's song the monthly Prabasi of Kolkata. Lalon died at Chheuriya, at the age of 116 on 17 October 1890.