The Sundarbans: Folk Deities, Monsters and Mortals PDF
Preview The Sundarbans: Folk Deities, Monsters and Mortals
THE SUNDARBANS THE SUNDARBANS Folk Deities, Monsters and Mortals Sutapa Chatterjee Sarkar Firstpublished2017 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,an informabusiness ©2017SutapaChatterjeeSarkarandManoharPublishers& Distributors TherightofSutapaChatterjeeSarkartobeidentifiedas authorofthisworkhasbeenassertedbyherinaccordance withsections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatents Act1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedor reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic, mechanical,orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented, includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformation storageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfrom thepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybe trademarksorregisteredtrademarks,andareusedonlyfor identificationandexplanationwithoutintenttoinfringe. PrinteditionnotforsaleinSouthAsia(India,SriLanka, Nepal,Bangladesh,Afghanistan,PakistanorBhutan). BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritish Library LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Acataloguerecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-1-138-10370-2(hbk) ISBN:978-1-315-10087-6(ebk) TypesetinPlantin10/12 byElevenArts,Delhi110035 Dedicated to my parents Jyotsna and Santimoy Chatterjee Contents List of Tables viii List of Figures viii List of Photographs viii Preface and Acknowledgements ix Maps xi Abbreviations xiii 1. The Sundarbans: Folk Deities, Monsters and Mortals An Introduction 1 2. Fearsome Forests, Rising Tides: A Historical Geography of the Sundarbans 9 3. The Sundarbans in punthi Literature 30 4. Tilman Henckell: An Advocate of Colonial Paternalism 55 5. Land Reclamation from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century 74 6. Development of the Port at Canning and Gosaba Co-operative 112 7. Tebhaga in Kakdwip 142 8. The Sundarbans in Modern Bengali Fiction 163 9. The Mangrove and the Man: A Conclusion 180 viii Contents Glossary 184 Bibliography 188 Index 199 List of Tables 5.1: Population Variation (as percentage) in the Sundarbans Police Stations between 1871 and 1951 75 5.2: Total Immigration from different sources to the 24 Parganas and the Sundarbans, Male and Female (both in absolute figures and percentages): Census 1891 75 5.3: Division of Sundarbans 79 5.4A: Changes in Land Use, 1880-1950, for 3 Sundarbans Districts: Khulna and Bakarganj, Bangladesh, 24 Parganas (including Calcutta), India 95 5.4B: Aggregate Change in Land Use from 1880–1950 96 5.5: Typical Descent from the Estate Holder to Petty Tenure Holders 98 6.1: Ships Visiting Matla Port 116 List of Figures 5.1: Land Use (1880–1950) 94 5.2: Population Growth 94 List of Photographs Masked Men in boat. 2 Sundarban Trees. 10 Tiger Widows. 11 Major James Rennell's layout of the Sundarbans in 1781. 13 Sundarban Crocodile. 15 Jautar Deul. 22 Dakshin Ray. 34 Tilman Henckell’s letter. 57 The bust of Daniel Mackinnon Hamilton (1860–1939). 119 A duplicate certificate. 128 Preface and Acknowledgements T he mystery and remoteness of the Sundarbans—evident even to the first time casual visitor, expressed repeatedly in literary works has made it notoriously hard to write a history of the region. While popular histories, religious and mythological accounts portray the diversity of religious beliefs in the context of a forbidding fauna, official and archival narratives have tended to get bogged down in details of land reclamation, settlement and counter insurgency. Therefore the challenge of retrieving a history of the Sundarbans proved daunting. It was only the inspiration of teachers and seniors in the field that persuaded me to convert my doctoral dissertation into a full length book. The debts that I have incurred in the course of writing this book are many. My deepest debt is to Professor Barun De who supervised my research and was a great source of inspiration. I am grateful to Mrs Romabai De who encouraged me time and again towards the completion of my work. I must express my highest regard for Professor Ashin Dasgupta, who inspired me to take up history as a subject. I am indebted to my teacher Dr Lakshmi Subramanian for being an astute critic and an unfailing friend by inspiring me to finish this work. Professor Basudeb Chattopadhyay, Professor Suranjan Das, Professor Arun Bandopadhyay, Professor Bhaskar Chakraborty, Professor Rajat Kanta Ray, Professor Deepak Kumar, Professor Goutam Sengupta and Professor Atis Dasgupta gave me valuable
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