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bonbibi's Journal
Created on 2006-12-02 14:57:05 (#11740746), last updated 2009-09-06
278 comments received, 211 comments posted
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Basic Info| Name: | bonbibi |
|---|---|
| Location: | Kolkata/London/Paris/Dhaka |
BioBonbibi: bridging worlds..
In the archipelago of islands that are the Sundarbans resides a little-known goddess. The story goes that Bonbibi was chosen by Allah to protect people who work in the Sundarbans mangrove forests against Dokkhin Rai. Dokkhin Rai, ‘King of the South’ (here Lower Bengal – i.e. the Sundarbans) was a Brahmin sage who lived in the forests and who had one day, in a fit of greed, decided to feed on humans. For this, with the help of his ascetic powers, he took the form of a tiger. He soon became a rakkhosh and started preying on humans.
Allah in compassion for the people of the ‘land of the eighteen tides’ (athero bhatir desh – another name for the Sundarbans) decides to put a stop to Dokkhin Rai’s insatiable greed and ensuing ravages. He chooses 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, on giving birth to twins, had decided to keep only the son whom she named Shah Jongoli. A deer had taken pity on the abandoned daughter Bonbibi and become her surrogate mother. When Bonbibi grew up, Allah called her to free ‘the land of the eighteen tides’ from the exploitation of the sage who disguised himself as a tiger.
Around the same time, Ibrahim returned to retrieve his wife Gulalbibi and children. But Bonbibi called out to her brother as the couple were leaving with their son telling him they had an important task to accomplish. Shah Jongoli decides to follow his sister and together they go to Medina to receive the blessings of Fatima and then to Mecca to bring back some holy earth to take to the land of the eighteen tides. When they finally arrive, they call out Allah’s name and mix the holy earth of Mecca with the earth of the Sundarbans. Dokkhin Rai hears them and decides to drive them away. But Rai’s mother Narayani insists that it is better for a woman to fight another woman and takes on Bonbibi. As she starts to lose, Narayani calls Bonbibi 'soi' (friend). Bonbibi, happy, accepts Narayani’s friendship.
Bonbibi’s story is not very old. The 'Bonbibi Johuranamah', the booklet that narrates her story – was written by one little-known Abdur Rahim towards the end of the 1800s. It is written, although in Bangla, from back to front to emulate the Arabic script. A prior story, part of an epic poem called 'Ray-Mangal' (composed by Krishnaram Das in 1686), narrating the tensions and then friendship between the Ghazi and Dokkhin Rai is often appended at the end of the Bonbibi story. Today, Bonbibi, Dokkhin Rai and the Ghazi are always represented together in the little shrines that dot the islands of the Sundarbans.
I say: vive Bonbibi!
In the archipelago of islands that are the Sundarbans resides a little-known goddess. The story goes that Bonbibi was chosen by Allah to protect people who work in the Sundarbans mangrove forests against Dokkhin Rai. Dokkhin Rai, ‘King of the South’ (here Lower Bengal – i.e. the Sundarbans) was a Brahmin sage who lived in the forests and who had one day, in a fit of greed, decided to feed on humans. For this, with the help of his ascetic powers, he took the form of a tiger. He soon became a rakkhosh and started preying on humans.
Allah in compassion for the people of the ‘land of the eighteen tides’ (athero bhatir desh – another name for the Sundarbans) decides to put a stop to Dokkhin Rai’s insatiable greed and ensuing ravages. He chooses 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, on giving birth to twins, had decided to keep only the son whom she named Shah Jongoli. A deer had taken pity on the abandoned daughter Bonbibi and become her surrogate mother. When Bonbibi grew up, Allah called her to free ‘the land of the eighteen tides’ from the exploitation of the sage who disguised himself as a tiger.
Around the same time, Ibrahim returned to retrieve his wife Gulalbibi and children. But Bonbibi called out to her brother as the couple were leaving with their son telling him they had an important task to accomplish. Shah Jongoli decides to follow his sister and together they go to Medina to receive the blessings of Fatima and then to Mecca to bring back some holy earth to take to the land of the eighteen tides. When they finally arrive, they call out Allah’s name and mix the holy earth of Mecca with the earth of the Sundarbans. Dokkhin Rai hears them and decides to drive them away. But Rai’s mother Narayani insists that it is better for a woman to fight another woman and takes on Bonbibi. As she starts to lose, Narayani calls Bonbibi 'soi' (friend). Bonbibi, happy, accepts Narayani’s friendship.
Bonbibi’s story is not very old. The 'Bonbibi Johuranamah', the booklet that narrates her story – was written by one little-known Abdur Rahim towards the end of the 1800s. It is written, although in Bangla, from back to front to emulate the Arabic script. A prior story, part of an epic poem called 'Ray-Mangal' (composed by Krishnaram Das in 1686), narrating the tensions and then friendship between the Ghazi and Dokkhin Rai is often appended at the end of the Bonbibi story. Today, Bonbibi, Dokkhin Rai and the Ghazi are always represented together in the little shrines that dot the islands of the Sundarbans.
I say: vive Bonbibi!
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