Bon Bibi Palagaan
- July 5, 2020
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Subject: Arts and culture
Context:
The centuries-old folk theatre form and the worship of a forest goddess has helped the islanders of sunderbans to understand the power of nature and the limits the human need.
Concept:
- BonbibiPalagaan is a dramatic performance tradition connected with the worship of the cult goddess Bonbibi.
- The followers of Bon Bibi are fishermen, crab-collectors and honey-gatherers many of them impoverished who go into the wild mangroves, teeming with wild animals such as tigers and crocodiles, to earn a livelihood. They believe that only Bon Bibi protects them when they enter the forest.
- Traditionally, Bonbibi-r Palagaan was simply recited or sung as a eulogy to the deity to invoke her blessings.
- In contrast to the Bengali literary canon, this popular performance-ritual, which is exclusively practised in the Sundarbans in lower delta region West Bengal and Bangladesh, has survived orally or through handwritten manuscripts in the periphery without receiving much recognition.
- The word ‘pala’ means a ‘long narrative verse’ and ‘gaan’ means ‘song’ in Bengali.
- BonbibiPalagaan is considered to be the representative performance-ritual of the Sundarbans and also an emblem of the syncretist nature of the region.