Probashi- Topical Issue
Probashi- Topical Issue
One God , Many Names , Diverse Followers One God , Many Names , Diverse Followers
Despite India being witness to the Adil Shahi kings and was one of the which had dense mangrove forests worst kind of communal violence , I kingdom ’ s most revered and spread across both India and strongly believe that secularism is respected generals . Further Bangladesh . Here a Muslim goddess the most coveted belief of India ’ s Shivaji ’ s grandfather Maloji Bhonsle is worshipped by the inhabitants
culture to which the majority of was a disciple of Sufi saint Shah spread acrosss approximately 400 Indians subscribe to . Detractors Sharief who lived near delta islands . Bon Bibi ( the lady of
would immediately stand‐up and Ahmednagar . Blessed by the saint , the forest ), is worshipped by both point out to the logical Maloji had two sons whom he the Hindus and the Muslims and inconsistency of my statement . To named after the saint – Shahaji revered by the honey‐collectors and
buttress their claim they would ( Shivajl ’ s father ) and Serfoji . Shivaji the woodcutters who pray to her furnish details of communal riots was very close to Sufi saint Sayed before entering the forest and data on the numbers killed . I Yakub whom he would consult requesting protection against the would accept their data but not before undertaking any military attacks from the man‐eating tigers their claim . For every instance of campaign . which infest the Sundarban forests communal riots I can show twenty . Legend has it that Bon Bibi is the From Maharashtra let us go to instances of communal harmony . daughter of Ibrahim and his wife
Mednipur district of West Bengal News headlines , TV channels ,
Golalbibi . Bon Bibi was abandoned and meet the Sunni Muslim seminar lectures only discuss the in the forest and she was brought up
Patachitra painters ( Patuas ) who communal intolerance , for a change by a doe . It is said that Allah sent paint scrolls which depict Hindu let ’ s talk of examples of communal four maids from heaven to take care
Gods . Interestingly this community tolerance which is played out every of Bon Bibi . Bon Bibi idols dot along performs marriages according to day in the streets , houses and the periphery of the dense forests
Hindu rites with a Qazi present institutions of India . And it is on and she provides protection to while the funerals follow the basis of these numerous instances anyone goingg into the forests
Islamic customs . Married women that I claim strongly thatt an average irrespective of his / her religious apply sindur and the community Indian is a secularist . Minority in belief . celebrate both Islamic and Hindu this Country is not a Muslim , or festivals with fervour . Interestingly Saba Naqvi in her book In Good Christian or a Sikh ; the minority in every Patua has two names one Faith has documented a unique and this country is the group of Hindu and one Muslim . courageous initiative by the intolerant people who design and Gandhian
Gujarati businessman commission communal riots for If we travel south from Medinpur Laljibhai Satyasneha who setup the personal gains . The examples of and about 100 kms from Kolkata in Satyar Mandir at half a kilometre tolerance which I cite in this article 24 Parganas is located the delta of from the Babri Masjid site in are not exceptions but the rule and the river Ganges called Sundarbans
Ayodhya . This temple has idols of it is time to take communalism towards extinction . Because being secular comes naturally to us given the legacy of tolerance which our ancestors have bequeathed us with .
Shivaji is projected as a Hindu rebel fighting the
Muslim Mughals . Such religious colour is unfounded if we delve a bit deeper into Shivaji ’ s lesser known life history . His encounters with the Mughal kings were for territorial contest and not the Hindu version of a holy war . Shivaji ’ s father , Shahaji
Bhonsle served as general to the Muslim
Bonbibi temple in a village in the Sundarbans . Inset idol of Bon Bibi