Syeda Badsha is widely believed and esteemed as the ruler of jungal in Bangladesh perhaps under different names in different regions. Although he does not have any particular forest where he would dwell, a particular part of the woods would however be dedicated to him where people encounter activities that they associate with his presence. Interestingly, my aunt had moved to Badshar Tilla, a Sylheti colloquial term meaning hillock of the Badshah of jungal. This move was significant given the fact that it was one of such places where people witnessed the presence of other beings who they associate with Syeda Badsha. This would perhaps refer to the growing dominance of humans over nature that would go on to occupy and exploit it from their being a humble part of it.
Even about 10 years ago, there was a cham tree (in Bengali chapalish or monkey jack in English) in front of my aunt’s house big, tall, and as old as our memories can’t go. This tree was believed to be one of those abodes where Syeda Badsha dwelled, and hence, it used to be crowded with other beings who would serve him. My mother recalled seeing human-like creatures climbing the gigantic tree one after another in broad daylight and people dying after they went there by themselves or by errands, even in the daytime. The tree itself gained popularity that it would never be possible to cut down as a single cut would result in red blood pouring out of it and whoever would try to cut it, would have a fever and most likely die.
The move to Badshar Tilla by my aunt’s family gradually took away the fear of the place and about ten years ago the cham tree was cut down following a lawsuit over ownership. This lawsuit itself is very symbolic to what gradually happened with the development of how human-nature relationships would gradually evolve and in place of belief, a secular-rational reason would evolve that would make nature a passive domain. Thus nonhuman entities including god holding the position of judgment and power who would not have to rely on evidence for verdict and punishment and who would not have to rely on someone else’s petition to render justice lost their position giving rise to human-led secular evidence and argument oriented justice systems.
On the contrary, Syeda Badshah as the ruler, preserver, and carer of the forests worked as the king who would ensure that everyone restrain themselves from doing anything beyond their needs, a necessary balance required from humans. Even when they want to do anything necessary, they would have to offer shinni (food dedicated to Allah and in this case with the manat denoting a vow to offer something before or after attaining the cherished outcome thus, in this regard, ensuring that the Badshah will not be offended) to satisfy him and he would thus permit them to cut a certain tree, bamboo plant and as such. But if they get greedy, cross the limit of necessity and go on to get more, he would get furious and punish them. Similarly his territory would require them to keep sacred and thus urinating and defecating in those areas would be deemed as an insult and people would thereby die if they did so.
Therefore Syeda Badshah as a jungle spirit regulates how the connection between humans and nature would be seen. In the past, humans perceived nature differently from what we do now. Rather than viewing it through a lens of secular rationality, they saw it as a realm inhabited by ghosts, spirits, and jinns, beings far more potent than themselves. Consequently, humans regarded nature with reverence and fear, recognizing their subordination and dependence on it and thereby the esteem for forests and in the above case as a last resort for the tree. Besides Syeda Badshah they had Khwaj Khijir in water, pirs, ghosts and rakhal the safekeeper, that is tolerant to the residents at every household but may not be so to strangers thus dictating restraint.
Belief in them dictated human behavior, convinced them to restrain thus leading them to designate specific territories, such as forests, wetlands, and rivers, as domains of these beings and pirs those would have power in themselves to reward and punish as Allah would provide them. Humans understood that any encroachment on these spaces and to those pirs could provoke divine retribution. Therefore in this shared understanding, human domains were confined to the artifacts and dwellings they constructed. Meanwhile, forests, hills, and other natural landscapes belonged to the spirits, requiring humans to respect their boundaries. Nighttime, especially, was considered the domain of these beings, free from human interference. Having belief on those highlights that humans were not the ultimate authority. Instead, alongside the creator, spiritual entities held sway over human existence, necessitating the allocation of space and respect for their presence.
Where do we stand now in terms of those nature-dominance? The educated people, religious and secular alike, have developed a secular-rational worldview thanks to the education that we receive. Hence, our worldview is humancentric. With this feeling, the majority of us imagine the world centered around ourselves, and many tend to worry about climate change. How do we view the belief in the non-human world and its beings? This itself comes from our understanding of the rational world. Muslims believing in textual references from the Quran come with the idea of jinn to deconstruct the concept of the spirit world, and the secular-rational world underscores the concepts of supernatural, paranormal, and therapeutic over the centuries old beliefs surrounding beings and landscapes; hence, there is the sharp decline in the world that used to hold humans as one of the many species and dependent on nature and the spiritual world.
The world modeled after the urban landscape now tends to be way more ethnocentric and hence it is so much different from what it used to be in the rural households. The overwhelming stress on one particular form of knowledge and reasoning while freeing people from diverse epidemics and as such, it has made the world overwhelmingly humancentic. In place of an enormous difference between rurality and urbanity, rural Bangladesh is in the middle of becoming more urban. People have become the decision makers of what grows in the household and forest lands and thus plant economically valuable trees but weed out other plants, weeds and grasses. In fact, Bangladesh is on the very verge of becoming a living poultry farm in the able hands of rational profit-mongering humans who by and large have been freed from the constraints of their beliefs that would otherwise regulate and restrain them. The social forestation projects run by the state in the wildlife reserves underscores that the state itself is weeding out plants, herbs and other species just to accommodate its human needs only who can be diverse, no other life forms.
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