![]() What they were looking for were regional folklores about women empowerment that often fall through the cracks compared to dominant and more popular literature. Meghdol's intention with Bonobibi was to identify and highlight women centric discourses that have been passed down for generations through oral traditions of storytelling. "We wanted to bring to the foreground the idea that even in times, a narrative centred around a female protagonist existed–even before the Women's Rights Movement." "We are not here to talk about Bonbibi, or about Khona's teachings, or even Sultan", Shibu Kumer Shill tells us, speaking about Meghdol's motivation to adapt Bonbibi and Khona's parables to contemporary Bangladeshi music. Elsewhere, Hindus have their own practices, Muslims have their own practices." This is the only example in Bangladesh where you have this kind of a cult which is still very alive. Dokkhin Rai, the tiger god, is the threat. No one will venture into the forest, whether Hindu or Muslim, without going to the Bonbibi shrine and doing something ritualistic. One half of the tide country she leaves as forests to be ruled by Dokkhin Rai.Īs SK Mandal writes, the story of Banbibir Keramati and Banbibir Jahuranama (or The Glory of Bonbibi as it appears in The Hungry Tide) has since been recreated in plays, musicals, and reworked to form parts of or the entirety of other narratives, though not to the extent that would allow them to gain mainstream recognition.Īs poet, academic and literary critic Professor Kaiser Haq addressed in his session on The Goddesses of Bengal at this year's Dhaka Lit Fest, "Bonbibi is revered by everyone who lives in the Sundarbans. Through the intervention of the archangel Gabriel, Ibrahim became the father of blessed twins, Bon Bibi and Shah Jongoli." The archangel informs the twins that "they were to travel from Arabia to 'the country of eighteen tides' - athhero bhatir desh - in order to make it fit for human habitation." Bonbibi's arrival in the jungle is accompanied by a prayer call, an azaan, and as the twins are attacked by–and win over–the demon king Dokkhin Rai, Bonbibi is seen to be generous in victory. ![]() "ere lived a man called Ibrahim", the play recounts for Kanai, "a childless but pious Muslim who led the austere life of a Sufi faqir. Through a stage play enacted in the Sundarban village of Lusibari in Amitav Ghosh's The Hungry Tide, Ghosh's protagonist Kanai learns how the story originated in Medina. The story narrates the prophetic powers of a girl who appears to Bengali king Bikram Aditya when his kingdom faces difficulties with their harvest due to unpredictable weather her witty predictions help him turn his misfortune around.Īs SK Mandal writes in Banbibir Pala (Gangchil Publisher, 2016), the first recorded texts mentioning Bonbibi were that of poets Bayanuddin and Munshi Mohammad Khater, circa 19th century, and it is thought that the tale originated in the Sundarban region around the 15th century with the emergence of Islam. ![]() Khona's adages, which reportedly originated in the Indian subcontinent, have recently been compiled only in a handful of books like Khonar Bochon (Ovro Prokash, 2021) by Sabbir Hafez, and her origin story examined in books like Purvi Basu's Kingbodontir Khona O Khonar Bochon (Onoprokash, 2015). There are no notable books that compile the parables of Khona, which serves as part of the inspiration for the Coke Studio Bangla song. It has raised a wider question about how music plays a role in storytelling. Questioning as to why the song was done under the banner of Coke Studio, a project funded by an American-based multinational corporation questioning what qualifies Meghdol, a band known for singing about urban life in Dhaka city, to sing about tales originating in the Sundarbans and why the song didn't delve deeper into the history and background of the stories they were trying to tell. When Coke Studio Bangla released Meghdol's Bonobibi, their second song of season 2, listeners found themselves torn between loving the song and questioning it.
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