Little is known about the Bengal tiger &- it is elusive, camouflaged and hides deep in the forests of southern Asia. But to the people living in and around the Ganges Delta, tigers represent a higher power that should be feared and respected.
Dr. Annu Jalais, an Agrarian Studies Program post-doctorial fellow at Yale University, led a talk on Monday afternoon about the ongoing relationship between animals, Islam and the indigenous culture of Southeast Asia.
Thirty people gathered in the Terrace Lounge at the George Sherman Union to hear Jalais discuss the influence of tigers and other large cats within the Islamic tradition, specifically in India, Bangladesh and surrounding small islands.
The lecture was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Asia.
“The goal of the Center for the Study of Asia is to promote the study of Asia at BU,” said Boston University Professor Frank Korom, an advocate for the Center. “I thought it would be great to have Dr. Jalais come because we have a lot of students from the Bangladesh region.”
The Center was founded last spring and hosts lectures like this every spring.
“We’re in the process of expanding and asking for outside funding,” he said. “The study of India and south Asia is especially popular among students going to BU who grew up there.”
Jalais was raised in Calcutta, India, and earned her Ph. D. from the London School of Economics. She visited India and Bangladesh to study the spread of Islam in that area along with a spiritual link to the endangered Bengal tiger.
By looking at “The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier” by Richard Eaton, Dr. Jalais made several connections between Islam, Sufi holy men and the forest.
“Tiger charmers go into the forest with groups to keep the tigers at bay with their charms,” she said.
Jalais explained that because agriculture is so difficult in this area, the people rely on the forest for resources. When the people of Bangladesh need to go into the forest to collect wood, they must exit the safety of their boats and enter the habitat of the tiger.
This requires a tiger charmer, who may crouch onto the sand, bury a leaf and say other chants to ward off the aggressive big cat, she said.
“The Sufis in Bangladesh are seen as the upholders of local superstition,” she said. “The people believe that tigers are jealous of their forest and their wood.”
Jalais told many ancient stories about gods that inhabited the islands and had encounters with tigers.
“I love telling the stories that rarely get told,” she said.
Throughout the lecture, Jalais referenced both Hindu gods and the Islamic tradition.
“In some communities [of southeast Asia], there’s this common sense of religiosity,” Korom said. “It wasn’t until later that there was this division between Hinduism and Islam.”
Where the Bengal tiger is concerned, Korom said the cat is not necessarily part of the entire Islamic tradition, but comes out of local circumstances.
College of Communication and College of Arts and Sciences junior Allison Salzman said she attended the lecture because it’s an interesting topic.
“I’m an anthropology major, so getting perspective from a different culture and religion is important,” she said. “BU offers lots of free things like this that are valuable.”
