Emergence of Bonbibi:
In the
archipelago of islands that are the Sundarbans a little-known goddess graces
its forests. The story goes that Bonbibi, the ‘woman of the forest’, was chosen
by Allah to protect people who work in the Sundarbans against a greedy
man-eating half Brahmin sage half tiger-demon, Dokkhin Rai. Dokkhin Rai, ‘King
of the South’ (in this case to be understood as referring to Lower Bengal –
i.e. the entire region that was once part of the Sundarbans) was a Brahmin sage
who lived in the forest.
One day, in a fit of greed he decided to feed on humans.
For this, he took the form of a tiger. This was possible for him as, through
his ascetic powers, he could magically transform himself into anything. His
greed increased and soon the sage was refusing to share any of the forest
resources with humans. He also started legitimising their killing by calling
these a ‘tax’ (kar) – one they had to pay with their lives for the products
they usurped from what he had come to consider as ‘his’ jungle. Soon his
arrogance and greed knew no bounds and he proclaimed himself lord and master of
the Sundarbans mangrove (badabon) and of all the beings that inhabited it: the
370 million spirits, demons, god-lings, spirits and tigers.
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| Picture of Ma Bonbibi idol |
With time he became
a demon (rakkhosh) who preyed on humans. Tigers and spirits became the chosen
subjects of Dokkhin Rai and, emboldened by him, also started to terrorise and
feed on humans. The trust that had existed between tigers and humans has now
been broken. But Allah, on noticing the frightening deterioration in relations
between tigers and humans, decided to take action. In his compassion for the
people of the ‘land of the eighteen tides’ (athero bhatir desh – another name
for the Sundarbans) he decided to put a stop to Dokkhin Rai’s reign of ‘terror’
and insatiable greed. He chose for this task Bonbibi, a young girl who lived in
the forest. Bonbibi’s father, Ibrahim, following his second wife’s wishes, had
abandoned his first wife Gulalbibi in a forest while she was pregnant.
Gulalbibi had given birth to twins but had decided to keep only her son, Shah
Jongoli, as she feared not being able to raise them both. A passing deer took
pity on the abandoned daughter Bonbibi and became her surrogate mother.
One
day, when she had grown up, Bonbibi heard Allah bidding her to free ‘the land
of the eighteen tides’ from the exploitation of the Brahmin man-eating sage
Dokkhin Rai who took the form of a tiger. At the same time, Ibrahim returned to
retrieve his first wife and children from the forest. But as her mother and
brother prepared to leave Bonbibi called out to her brother and told him to
accompany her on an urgent task – they had to go to Mecca and Medina. Her
brother decided to follow her and together they leave for Medina to receive the
blessings of Fatima and from there continue to Mecca to bring back some holy earth.
When they arrive in the infamous land of the eighteen tides they call out
Allah’s name and mix the holy earth of Mecca with the earth of the Sundarbans. Dokkhin
Rai hears their call for prayer and resenting their intrusion and their
invocation of Allah decides to drive them away. But Dokkhin Rai’s mother
Narayani appears and insists that it is better for a woman to be fought by
another woman and decides to take on Bonbibi. As she starts to lose the
conflict, Narayani calls Bonbibi ‘friend’ (soi). Bonbibi, gratified by the appellation,
accepts Narayani’s ‘friendship’ and they stop warring.
... to be continued.
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