The Sundarbans, the world's largest mangrove forest, has been an abiding theme in Amitav Ghosh’s oeuvre. The Hungry Tide, his 2004 novel, was set here, as was his more recent Gun Island (2019). “The Sundarbans is a very powerful landscape. It just works its way into your head, so that you can't escape it even when you want to,” Ghosh says. “When I started writing Gun Island, initially, I didn't intend to start it in the Sundarbans. But somehow, it just happened. The Sundarbans itself pulled me back into the landscape, so that I had to engage with it. Clearly, it just keeps pulling you back,” he further elaborates.

In Jungle Nama, Ghosh introduces the reader to the legend of Bon Bibi as described in 'Bon Bibi Johuranama' (The Narrative Of Bon Bibi’s Glory), composed separately, but with same title, by two poets namely Munshi Mohammad Khatir and Abdur Rahim Sahib in the 19th century. Both the versions were epic poems written in Bengali verse meter called the 'dwipodi poyar', meaning the 'two-footed line'. Both of them recount the triumph of Bon Bibi, the goddess of the forest, over Dokkhin Rai, an evil spirit, who assumes the form of a tiger to feast on any human who enters the delta terrain. The Bibi is the protector of all those who depend on the forests for their livelihood irrespective of religion, caste and community.

The Bon Bibi legend is charmingly retold by Amitav Ghosh using 'dwipodi poyar' in deceptively simple verse. The book tells the tale of poor Dukhey and how he is coaxed to go with his wealthy uncle Dhona into the mangrove jungles, looking for legendary treasure.

This deep forest though is the domain of the fearsome demon king Dokkhin Rai. The devious uncle cuts a deal with Dokkhin Rai, promising him Dukhey in return for the treasure trove. All seems lost for the forlorn Dukhey but, of course, it isn’t  really.

His mother has advised him to beseech Bon Bibi when in danger, and he does so accordingly. The Bibi comes to his rescue with her warrior brother Shah Jongoli, and all gets well at the end. Dukhey returns to his mother with enough riches to ensure a lifetime of comfort.

“With Bon Bibi's blessings, Dukhey was no longer sad; he lived life in contentment, not downcast but glad, grateful forever to his teacher, Bon Bibi; who'd taught him the secret of how to be happy:

All you need do, is be content with what you've got; to be always craving more, is a demon's lot, A world of endless appetite is a world possessed, is what your munshi's learned, by way of this quest”

The vocabulary of the book is uniquely hybrid, similar to the two Bon Bibi Jouharanama, combining Islamic, Hindu and folk elements. In an Afterword to the book, Amitav Ghosh writes: “The Bon Bibi legend is a marvel of hybridity, for the central tenets of the narrative - the ideas of limiting greed, and of preserving a balance between the needs of humans and those of other beings - do not belong to anyone tradition. These are essential values for this era of planetary crisis”.

In Jungle Nama Ghosh has collaborated with the Lahore-born and New York-based artist Salman Toor whose stunning artwork - though not really pretty - turning the book into 'an illuminated edition of a fabulous folk tale'.

The author says, “In the Before Times, stories like this one would have been considered child-like, and thus fare for children. But today, it's increasingly clear that such stories are founded on a better understanding of the human predicament than many narratives that are considered serious and adult.

Stories with images were also considered children's fare in Before Times. But rather than being 'illustrated', with images subordinated to words, this book is 'illuminated' - as was the case with most beautiful pre-modern books - throwing their own light upon the text”.

Jungle Nama is truly a marvelous achievement. The book has been reinvented by a contemporary master, India's only Jnanpith awardee in English language, in the archaic verse meter in which it was originally composed in the 19th century.

The writer is a Joint Secretary rank Officer in the Government of Jharkhand. Singh is a bibliophile having a voracious appetite for reading.