Tiger Widows
The battle for survival amid climate change in the Indian Sundarbans
The Indian Sundarbans is home to millions of people and the region’s endangered Bengal tigers. In recent years, rising sea levels and deadly storms forced farmers to travel deep into the tigers’ forests to make a living. Hundreds of men have been killed, leaving widows impoverished and shunned.
Ranjit Mondal Hindu priest
When I was a young man, my job was fishing and hunting crabs in the forest.
Our protector from the dangers was our goddess, Maa Bonobibi.
What we believe is, in the river or in the forest, if we shout “Maa Bonobibi” with devotion when the tiger is attacking the tiger will retreat.
But people going into the jungle are getting greedy.
There is this rule: Maa Bonobibi will save only those who pray to her.
Men killed by tigers in the forest leave behind wives known as “Tiger Widows”
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
We loved each other and decided to get married. He lived near my brother’s house. We had a loving marriage. Nobody supported our union so my father sent us [away].
Rita Mondal tiger widow
I got married when I was 16 years old.
My husband and I used to exchange love letters. He gave me his first through my sister-in-law. My brother found that letter between the pages of a book and then he gave me a good thrashing.
After that, I stopped communicating with him. We didn’t even have a phone.
Then he sent a message saying that if I didn’t marry him, he would drink poison.
I became stubborn too, and said that I will marry only him.
After this, our family members arranged our marriage.
The Indian Sundarbans is home to the world’s largest mangrove forest and endangered species of tigers, dolphins, and crocodiles. (Source: United Nations)
In recent decades, rising sea levels have engulfed islands, salt water has destroyed farms, and cyclones have become violent and frequent, displacing millions.
Lolita Biswas's husband was killed by a tiger. (Yan Boechat | VOA News)
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
The water level is rising and dams and houses are crushed. I can’t keep my children safe here.
My house was wrecked by the cyclone 3 years ago. My children and I took shelter under somebody else’s roof. I worked daily in the fields and went fishing in the river.
It was a very hard life, but finally I built this new home with my children.
Rita Mondal tiger widow
The storm caused great problems for our family.
Salt water in the fields killed the rice and if there is no rice, we have nothing to eat.
In the past 25 years, as a result of rising sea levels and cyclones, the Indian Sundarbans has shrunk by 110 square kilometers. (Source: Jadavpur University)
As the land shrinks and salt water moves onto the farms, workers are forced to go deeper and deeper into tiger habitats to make a living fishing, hunting crabs, or collecting honey.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
When I was little I saw people growing peppers, onions, and rice. Now, the water and soil have turned salty.
My husband used to grow crops, grow different vegetables but it was not enough.
He began thinking of other ways of income as we had two daughters, a son, his parents, and then us to feed.
We can only hunt crabs now.
About 4.5 million people live in Sundarbans, India, alongside more than 100 endangered Royal Bengal Tigers. (Source: World Wide Fund for Nature-India)
After a century of losses, the tiger population has increased in the past 20 years, due to government protections and severe punishments for poachers. (Source: Zoological Society of London)
But sometimes they enter villages, seeking livestock to eat as their hunting grounds shrink with the rising seas. When humans enter lands set aside for tigers, more deadly conflicts ensue.
Rita Mondal tiger widow
It’s against the law but my husband was forced into crab fishing.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
My husband was forced into crab hunting.
Rita Mondal tiger widow
They had to travel far to go fishing.
Where there is danger, there are more crabs.
If he went legally, it would cost 50,000 – 60,000 [Indian] rupees [$600–700 USD].
Pay the government huge amounts and then only what is left is yours. If not, you cannot fish legally.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
It was 2 a.m. when my husband went out crab hunting [that night] but he didn’t tell me where he was going.
I saw him sitting beside me [before he left], so I asked where he was going so late at night.
I left the room, and when I came back, he was gone.
(Brian Williamson | VOA News)
Sushanta Mandol Fisherman, friend of Sekhar, Lolita’s husband
It was in the middle of the night, 2:45 a.m.
We decided to go into the lowland for some fishing.
Pratap is a boatman so he spotted the tiger first and screamed loudly.
I was busy pulling out the crabs and as I turned my head Sekhar (Lolita’s husband) fell down on the boat.
The tiger jumped on him.
They were in the water for a couple of minutes and when the water was calm, the tiger rose up with his body in his mouth.
It carried the body to the shore.
Then he released Sekhar from his mouth and looked at me.
When I met his eyes I got the confidence to fight him.
So I got a stick from the boat and ran towards him.
After I threatened him with a stick the tiger dropped the body and left the area.
I was saved by the kindness of Maa Bonobibi.
Sekhar, Lolita’s husband, did not survive.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
I saw people running around my house but I didn’t know why.
I couldn’t understand why so many people were looking at me.
And when I reached my parents’ home, I saw my mother standing there.
I asked her to say something but she didn’t reply. She just froze there.
I asked her again, “Mama, what happened?”
She did not say a word.
When I reached the yard my little niece told me: “Oh Aunty, Uncle is no more!”
I ran from there to my in-laws house, carrying my son and crying all the way.
I couldn’t speak. When they declared him dead, I fainted.
After a very long time crying, they finally brought back his body.
Sushanta Mandol Fisherman, friend of Sekhar, Lolita’s husband
The husband of Lolita Biswas died in my boat. He was with me then.
Local authorities say hundreds of people have been killed by tigers in recent years but they call these numbers unofficial. (Source: Wildlife Protections Society of India)
Residents say most of these deaths take place in forest areas where land reserved for tigers is off-limits to most people.
Most bodies are never found, and most deaths are never reported.
Rita Mondal tiger widow
We all know that if a tiger attacks, then the man never gets better.
I was determined not to let my husband go fishing. But I failed my family in this way.
In the village you work one day, and then the next day there’s nothing for you.
The daily wage here is 400 hundred [Indian] rupees [$4.80], but it was 300 back then [$3.60].
How can that much take care of an entire family?
He went fishing twice and came back safe. Not the third time.
Rita Mondal holds a photo of her deceased husband who was killed by a tiger. (Yan Boechat | VOA News)
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
The boat was filled with my husband’s blood.
They lifted my husband’s body from the boat and made me see him like that.
I fainted again.
In the Sundarbans, it is widely believed that wives of tiger victims displeased Bonobibi. Tiger widows are isolated and banned from religious events.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
After the funeral pyre was arranged, the body was placed near a rice field.
Some of the villagers discussed letting me see him for the last time.
Ranjit Mondal Hindu priest
♪ Bonobibi is the gracious goddess of the jungle and people get their blessings from her ♪
It is very unfortunate that these women have been widowed because their husbands wanted to earn for the family.
We know that they are enduring pain, and we try to include them with us in our society, naturally, but religion dictates what we can do, and for religious events we can’t allow them to come with us.
♪ We come to know about her from this script— ♪
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
When I was young these attacks were never frequent but now they have increased so much.
If I fear crocodiles and tigers, who would look after my family? How will I look after them?
Why couldn’t I have died?
Rita Mondal tiger widow
They say that a widow cannot take part in the holistic rituals or step on the holy encampment.
They call me to join the Puja but I prefer to not go because I can’t help them with the rituals.
This saddens me more.
Ranjit Mondal Hindu priest
In the jungle, only Maa Bonobibi can save us.
Conflict between humans and animals in the Sundarbans demonstrates how climate change can upend the lives of people living in abject poverty and of endangered animals.
Mitigating this impact is possible, but barriers against rising sea levels in the Sundarbans are often breached, and agricultural projects have made little difference.
Tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee. Scientists say climate change here is unstoppable.
Sundarbans is hoping to be one of the first regions to receive help from the United Nations Loss and Damage Fund.
No funds from this program have been disbursed.
Rita Mondal tiger widow
My husband used to love me dearly.
Lolita Biswas tiger widow
It’s terribly painful. I am so isolated.
When I hear people speak about me, I go back home and cry alone.
I am not allowed to show my face at religious occasions. So I prefer not to go anywhere.
I take long walks instead, alone.
Tiger Widows
Special Thanks
Leslie Washington
Luis Ramirez
Walid Ghariani
Anas Ghariani