The Cult Bonbibi of Sundarban Delta

Abstract The Sundarban is the world’s largest coastal wetland, at the union of the Ganga, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers in the Bay of Bengal which is renowned for its rich bio diversity and so it provides a wide range of valuable forest products to its habitants. Moreover, the Sundarbans are surrounded by rivers, rivulets, and creeks, pushing the islanders of the Sundarbans to pursue nature based economy. Moreover it is the melting pot of various cultures giving rise to a heterogenous culture. The oral tradition of Sundarban is rich with myths and folk stories. Their interaction and relation with the nature are explained in the light of these various myths. It is the crisis of survival that brings together people under a common canopy of belief system. As their economy is mainly ecology specially forest-based economy, so the lives of the people are full of uncertainty, danger, life risk, anxiety and fear as this kind of interaction gives rise to man-animal conflicting situation. To reduce their anxiety and fear, they have devoted themselves to various Gods and Goddesses, pirs and darbeshes. Among all the great traditional religious faiths, the entire religion of the area revolves around the little tradition, territorial saviour Goddess Bonbibi who is the predominant cult figure in this Sundarban delta. This present paper has sought to understand how the myth and belief of Bonbibi is playing a vital role in their subsistence and survival in this inimical environment. The ubiquitous presence and belief of Bonbibi is also deeply rooted in their cognitive level.