Page 70 - Education World September 2021

Books

Narrative verse almost swallow Dukhey,
the unsuspecting bait and
message JUNGLE NAMA: A STORY OF victim.
THE SUNDARBAN
Amitav Ghosh Dukhey’s appeal to
HARPER COLLINS Bon Bibi for succour,
OLLOWING HIS her instructions to Shah
two widely ac- Rs.699; Pages 79 Jongoli to capture the
Fclaimed fiction predatory Dokkhin Rai
novels The Hungry Tide alive, Dukhey’s surrender
(2004) and Gun Island to the mistress of the for-
(2019), in Jungle Nama convinced that in this era Ghosh retrieves one est and his reverence for
(2021), Amitav Ghosh re- of derangement and the episodic plot from the his saviour, complete the
visits the Sundarbans, the Anthropocene, this book Bon Bibi Johurnama legend of this regional folk
“tangled green archipela- seriously engages with and converts it into deity of the tide country.
go” of riverine Bengal. understanding the human a captivating English Importantly, the de-
Ghosh’s first book writ- predicament. verse narrative ity combines Hindu and
ten in narrative verse is Written as an alle- Islamic characteristics that
rooted in the mythical tale gory, the narrative verse belong to a folk pantheon,
of Bon Bibi ‘Mistress of is focused on line-in-sand at the bottom of the socio- regionalised and localised
the Forest’; Shah Jongoli, boundaries drawn between economic pyramid. but believed to be alive
her muscle-man brother; human and animal realms The acquisitive Dhona and potent even in con-
Dokkhin Rai, the demon in the Sunderbans after lacks “life’s most splendid temporary times.
King in the avatar of a the arrival from Arabia gift” of contentment and The decrees issued
tiger; Dhona, a greedy of Bon Bibi, personifying embarks on a life of thiev- by Bon Bibi are basic,
trader and Dukhey, the compassion, and Shah ery. “It’s springtime now universally accepted tenets
poor victim symbolic of Jongoli, an embodiment of and the mangroves are of environmental balance,
the common man. power and strength. Their filled with hives. Let’s try protection of habitat and
In the preface Ghosh arrival ends the oppres- to collect the richest hoard biodiversity and limiting
admits that the objective sive rule of Dokkhin Rai, of our lives,” he exults. human greed. The ratio-
of his latest oeuvre is to who preyed on humans Preserving and sustaining nale of the book remains
express his grave concern in guise of a tiger with the natural environment a single-minded intent of
about the dangers posed “stripes, which danced by practicing needs-based reiterating these values
by climate change and like the flames of a fire”. resources mining cuts no “for this era of planetary
despoliation of the ecology By demarcating spaces ice with Dhona. crisis”.
and environment through and enacting laws against The dramatic plot-line The author’s experi-
the oral tradition of folk transgression, the new of the mythical narrative ment with a new literary
tales passed down from dispensation ensured with its components of form, incorporation of
one generation to an- that “every creature had a adventure and anxiety, visual images and adap-
other. These tales survive place, every want was met/ danger and fear, magic, tation of the vernacular
through live staged perfor- all needs were balanced, dreams and fantasy poyar meter into 12
mances with local varia- like lines of a couplet.” In unfolds in the depths of syllabled lines and 24
tions while retaining their contemporary ecological the forest as Dokkhin Rai syllabled couplets, sends
imaginative core themes. parlance this translates arouses primal instincts a strong message of the
The epic proportions as respecting biodiversity that succumb to tempta- importance of replicating
of the Bon Bibi Johur- and ensuring environment tion. A power game played literature and story-telling
nama were documented sustainability. out on unequal ground. to preserve the literary and
in print in the late 19th Embedded in this “You were caught in my cultural legacy of ancient
century. Ghosh retrieves jungle lore is the story coils when you entered times.
one episodic plot from the of Dhona and Dukhey, this raj,” growls the demon This book bears a
vernacular version and the former personify- as he bargains for human compelling message for
transcreates it, convert- ing wealth and the latter flesh and blood. Salman our times and Amitav
ing the verbal text into an poverty. They re-enact Toor’s illuminations are Ghosh is unabashed in
English verse narrative the eternal saga of human evocative of the dark claiming that the folktale
with illuminating illus- greed, exploitation of na- jungle, dense forest green- is “founded on a better
trations. The author is ture and mass deprivation ery and peepul tree that understanding of the hu-

70 EDUCATIONWORLD SEPTEMBER 2021