Bonbibi - the protector

In an age when Hindu majoritarianism has divided India on communal lines, and Islamic radicalism is on the rise across the globe, a local goddess admired by both Hindus and Muslims shines a beacon of hope on what it means to be truly pluralistic.

Sundarbans was spread across Jessore, Khulna, Barisal, Bakherganj and almost the entire part of 24 Parganas between Hooghli and Meghna. In the study of folk culture many folk goddesses are found there. One of them Dakshin Rai. The identity of the Dakshin Rai, we know from the various sources that his father was, Danda Baksha, who was the ruler of the ‘Atharo Vatir Desh’. His mother was Narayani. He was the ruler of Hijli. His residence in the Khania and his royal palace was in khanri. The inhabitant of the sundarbans, imagined him as a warrior. The people of this region also imagined him a forest god or as tiger-god. He was also known as "Bararai" or man-eater tiger. In the Sundarbans, Dakshin Rai and his followers, whose character as tiger also worshiped. There is a lot of controversy about Dakshin Rai, as the god of any religion. Many scholars and researchers believe that in the primitive society, there was a tradition of worship of the Tiger as a man in Astro-mangoloid group.

Perhaps nothing reflects the long history of Hindu-Muslim unity in the country than the story of Bonbibi, a local Goddess worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims in the dense forest of the Sundarbans in West Bengal. Her Hindu followers call her Bandurga, Bandevi or Banbibi and her predominantly Hindu images are found as wearing a crown and garland, carrying a club and trishul. Her vahana (vehicle) is a tiger. Her Muslim followers call her Banbibi, and her predominantly Muslim images are found with braided hair, wearing a cap with a tikli. Instead of a sari, she wears a ghagra and pyjama, and a pair of shoes.

The word ‘ban’ in Bengali means ‘forest’, while ‘bibi’ originates from the Persian word for lady or wife. The word ‘Bonbibi’ thus literally means ‘lady of the forest’. She is an Islamic deity, which is almost an oxymoron according to Islam and is believed to have travelled on Allah’s orders from Medina to the Sundarbans to protect its distressed residents.

According to folklore, found in the eighteenth-century text ‘Bonbibir Johuranama’, Bonbibi was the daughter of Ibrahim, a fakir who came from Mecca and became the king of the Sundarbans.

Since he had no children from his first wife, Phoolbibi, he married another woman Golabibi who gave birth to twins: Bonbibi and Shah Junglee. Because Ibrahim has promised his first wife, he would abandon the second child; he left Golabibi in the woods when she was pregnant. This is where Bonbibi was born and raised as a Muslim.

Years later, in the jungle, the brother-sister duo goes on to win a fierce battle with the evil lord Dakshin Ray who takes the form of the tiger and his mother, Narayani. Since then, Bonbibi became the protector of forests and is especially revered by honey collectors and woodcutters who pray to Bonbibi before entering the Sundarbans to seek protection.

Sundarban is the only context where a deity is worshipped not only as a prerequisite of a custom but because of need, the need to gain confidence and courage before entering the forest. It is precisely because of this collective pursuit of protection, that Bonbibi, despite being a Muslim deity, transcends communal barriers and is worshipped by all the forest workers irrespective of caste and creed.

For the islanders, Bonbibi goes against the distinctions of caste, class and religion. This is the reason why those who work in the forest as fishers and crabcollectors stress the fact that they have to consider all jatis – whether Brahmin or Malo, rich or poor, Hindu or Muslim, or even human or animal – ‘equal’. Tigers and humans ‘share the same food’, they explain, because they both depend on the forest – tigers eat fish and crabs like the villagers, and like them, tigers are greedy for wood. These facts not only make tigers equal to humans but it also ‘ties’ them to humans.Also, Dakshin Rai, the Ghazi and Bonbibi have to be placed together in shrines, point out the villagers, to show how different jatis and must coexist and come to an agreement when dealing with the forest. Many Sundarbans islanders say that the most important factor for ensuring their safety in the forest, apart from entering the forest ‘empty handed’ and ‘pure hearted’, is that they should entrust their lives to Bonbibi, live up to her injunctions and not dwell on their differences.

We realized man is the greatest predator in the Sundarbans. Often on the river banks, we saw small makeshift huts or brick structures with a red cloth flying over it. It was a Ban Bibir Than or Temple. Ban Bibi or Bandevi is the guardian of the forest. According to folk lore,when the first human settlers could not cope with the Tiger God Dakshin Rai, and his army of wild animals and demons of the forest, they prayed to Bon Devi or Bon Durga or Bon Bibi. Bon Bibi defeated Dakshin Rai and established her supremacy over the forest and protects her followers. Bon Bibi decked in red sari and crown, rides on a tiger and is revered by Hindus and Muslims alike in the Sundarbans. No fisherman or Honey collector known as mouli will go to the deep Jungle to catch fish or collect honey without offering prayer before Bon Bibi. Bon Bibi Puja is an annual function in the Sundarbans. Formerly Zamindars used to sponsor these festivals. Just in front of the Kachari Bari of BoroTushkal. Each would offer prayer to Bon Bibi and some would also offer some candle or batasha as offerings.

For centuries, the region has been synonymous with terrifying beasts, among them crocodiles, sharks and snakes, but tigers have loomed largest. The 9th-century Pala Dynasty inscriptions refer to a “forested seashore infested with tigers”. In the mid-1600s, French physician-traveller François Bernier noted how they swam from island to island and suggested that boats should be tethered at a distance from shore because tigers were apt to skulk aboard and carry away sleeping sailors, usually the “stoutest and fattest”.

Just as we the human have the right to live on planet earth, and so does the tigers, the crocodiles , and so does the each and every creature.

I think this system of nature i.e. worshipping Bondevi or Bonbibi before entering in the forest is relevant and if anyone goes against these system will have to face difficulties.