Staff Correspondent// Bonobibi, the lady of the forest, also Bonodevi, Bandurga and Byaghradevi is a guardian spirit of the forests venerated by both the Hindu and the Muslim residents of the Sundarbans (spread across West Bengal state in eastern India and Bangladesh).

She is called upon mostly by the honey-collectors and the woodcutters before entering the forest for protection against the attacks from the tigers.

It is believed that the demon king. Dakshin Ray an arch-enemy of Bonobibi actually appears in the disguise of a tiger and attacks human beings. Thus, attempts to read the images of Bonobibi as a Muslim deity with braided hair, wearing a cap with a tikli and her Hindu form wearing a crown and garland, carrying a club and trishul and her vahana (vehicle) is a tiger. Muslims make the idol in the form of girl of a well to do Muslim family & Hindus make in the form of mother goddess. But in both cases the idol is decorated with wild flowers & creepers on her both hand & neck which indicates her wild forest origin. Worship of Bonobibi is now affair of whole community & today Hindus & Muslims worship her with equal zest. Bonobibi is now become symbol of communal harmony especially in Sundarbans. For people of Sundarbans she is now part of their struggle life & they do not consider her as a deity of temple or mosque. The different iconography of Bonobibi in two different religious people is the main concern of this paper.
Staff Correspondent:

Bonobibi, the lady of the forest, also Bonodevi, Bandurga and Byaghradevi is a guardian spirit of the forests venerated by both the Hindu and the Muslim residents of the Sundarbans (spread across West Bengal state in eastern India and Bangladesh).

She is called upon mostly by the honey-collectors and the woodcutters before entering the forest for protection against the attacks from the tigers.

It is believed that the demon king. Dakshin Ray an arch-enemy of Bonobibi actually appears in the disguise of a tiger and attacks human beings. Thus, attempts to read the images of Bonobibi as a Muslim deity with braided hair, wearing a cap with a tikli and her Hindu form wearing a crown and garland, carrying a club and trishul and her vahana (vehicle) is a tiger. Muslims make the idol in the form of girl of a well to do Muslim family & Hindus make in the form of mother goddess. But in both cases the idol is decorated with wild flowers & creepers on her both hand & neck which indicates her wild forest origin. Worship of Bonobibi is now affair of whole community & today Hindus & Muslims worship her with equal zest. Bonobibi is now become symbol of communal harmony especially in Sundarbans. For people of Sundarbans she is now part of their struggle life & they do not consider her as a deity of temple or mosque. The different iconography of Bonobibi in two different religious people is the main concern of this paper.

A paper by Fabiha Tanjim Studying Art History and Aesthetics in MSU of Baroda, Gujarat, India.