Posted by sharad on 25th August, 2016.
Residents and honey-gatherers in and around the Sunderbans are always at the mercy of various predatory animals in the region, especially the famous tiger of the area. The majestic and splendid nature of the Royal Bengal Tiger has given rise to many stories about the Sunderbans – some of them true, and some of them quite apocryphal.
The beautiful forests in this region have also made it easier for a legend to grow. Scared of the dark, the tiger, and other wild beasts, gatherers knew their immediate future was in grave danger every time they crossed the threshold of the forest. They prayed to a protective deity called Bonbibi to guard and arm them against danger of all possible kinds. The arch-enemy of this beautiful forest goddess was Dakhhin Rai, who might even take the shape of a tiger to attack people, thus thwarting the motive of Bonbibi, which was primarily to save the forest-dwellers.
Who is Bonbibi?
Interestingly enough, Bonbibi is the daughter of Ibrahim, a fakir from Mecca. He had been compelled to take a second wife because his first wife could not bear children. The second wife, too, had abandoned Bonbibi, who was her daughter with Ibrahim, in a forest. Bonbib and shah Jangali, the two children of the second wife, were believed also to have born in the forest.
She is a deity worshipped by both Hindus and Muslims. Hindus worship her as Bon Durga or Bon Devi; the deity wears a saree, and carries the trishul. Her vahana is the tiger. The Islamic deity, Banbibi, is a pirani. Her long and beautiful hair is braided, and she is adorned with a tikli on her forehead. Normally, she is seen in a ghaghra. A tiger or a hen is seen with or around her. The worship of the mother protector still continues with great verve, and the deity is seen as a bridge between the conspicuously different rituals of Islam and Hinduism.
Armed with her trishul, and her feet on the dangerous tiger, Bonbibi reminds us that the forest is at once the creator of life, and also has the supreme power to destroy it.