TheDaak review

Commentary

As I read Annu Jalais’s telling tale of women, politics, power and religion in Forest of Tigers, it all comes alive in the present – day context of Sandeshkhali.

This piece is a bethinking of the work produced in 2010 in the present context of the Sandeshkhali incident, marking the contemporaneity of the work and the situation that has remained persistently unchanged – as if stuck in a vicious Sisyphean time loop. It talks about the interplay of elements as religion, politics, business, all coming together to sandwich women, as the populace does not forget to follow Goddess cults – hence depicting the irony of beliefs on one hand and the practical realities of life on another. Here is a case study of the worlds of Garjontola as presented in the book and Sandeshkhali in the present context as my mind oscillates between the living realities of the time and the incidents cited in the book.

I was recently on a field trip to Bengal (I like to use the term Bengal because it sounds more inclusive, in all spheres, as it aspires to bring to the foreground an ethno-cultural and linguistic unit rather than a political unit barricaded by frontiers). Although my work was chiefly around temples, my mind circumnavigated through other areas of interest. This happened more after I came back and came across an interesting work on the politics, people and representation in the Sundarbans – Forest of Tigers by Annu Jalais, where she touches upon topics such as inter-religious marriage, customs, faith and worship and how all of these have a bearing on the politico-economic dynamics of the geographical space and vice versa. (Focusing on geographical space here, for space can allude to a whole range of domains including political, emotional, psycho-social, ethnic and cultural to name a few)

She begins with a woman, Arati not being invited to a wedding in the family and how she narrates the chain of incidents and counter incidents that led to her not being in the guest list, also very beautifully and vividly capturing the larger issues at play. Author talks about prawn seed cultivation, and the politics around it (with my mind oscillating from a mental map of Bengal, Chingrighata in the vicinity of Salt lake in Calcutta features from time to time, specifically for the sake of the etymology of it). Jalais demonstrates how Arati’s support to an inter religious marriage of her cousin was also backed by her business with the father of the Muslim girl (whom her cousin marries). He, according to her was better in business than her own relative, Badal who was a sworn enemy of the said man, all because of the vyings of the business. Another reason cited is Arati’s and more of Arati’s husband’s opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party, of which the said Badal became a member. Badal in order to garner more support for his go gettings organizes the worship of Hori – a cult propounded to counter the growing popularity of Goddess Saraswati in the local schools. This becomes interesting as it signifies the ‘invention of tradition’ – as the cult of Hori is said to be relatively new, and an invention at the local level, by the people of the village called Garjontola

This work written in 2010 becomes all the more significant today as news of the politics around prawn seed cultivation in Sandeshkhali rocks the TMC government in West Bengal and prepares the ground for further political mishaps and machinations, and both women and the Hindu Muslim ‘caste’ politics plays a crucial role in both – the incidents in the book and the ‘highlighted’ events at Sandeshkhali with politics and business at the backdrop. The author brings in another interesting element in the story – the dichotomy of the cults followed by the forest dwellers and workers on one hand, who revered Bonbibi as the protector of the forest, irrespective of them being Hindus or Muslims, as Bonbibi could be beseeched by anyone to protect their land and the forest, on which their entire life depended, and the forest officers who revered Kali, as opposed to the cult of Bonbibi, thus marking a contrast between ‘great’ and ‘little’ traditions here.

The author again, states how the Hindus involved in the business of prawn seed collection invoke Goddess Kali, as prawn seed collection is marked by blood and violence, bringing in the element of the Mafias in the whole picture. Thus, what Annu Jalais wrote in 2010 is pertinent and prudent today, with Sandeshkhali featuring in the top headlines of news houses today, taking one to the interplay of religion, politics and women in the ‘delta’ bedecked by uncertainty, vehemence, violence, plunder and obscurity. What is interesting is how Bonbibi and Kali fare in the tussle of business and political Mafias – will they descend down to protect the women or will the women don the garb of the said Goddesses as they have?

Swaswati Borkataki, PhD Research Scholar, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi