Tiger hiding in Bandavgarh National Park, India, Author Amitban77 (Creative Commons Atribution 4.0 International)
“…The Sundarbans [is] a vast mangrove forest straddling the border of India and Bangladesh…
In the coastal villages of the Sundarbans, many women have lost their husbands to tiger attacks. These men — fishermen, honey collectors, and woodcutters — venture into the forest’s treacherous depths to earn a living. When they don’t return, their wives are left to face not only grief but also a cruel and unjust blame. They are branded as Apia (inauspicious) or even “husband-eaters.”
Branded as Cursed: A Life of Blame and Ostracism
Superstition dictates that when a man enters the forest, his wife must observe strict rituals and vows for his safety. However, if her husband falls prey to a tiger, the community immediately presumes that the wife must have failed in her duties or is inherently unlucky. The responsibility for his death is placed squarely on her shoulders.
This social condemnation is just the beginning. The women, now known as tiger widows, face severe ostracism.
- Villagers may stop interacting with them.
- They are refused work in agricultural fields or community fishing.
- They are barred from attending social and religious ceremonies.
Forced into isolation, these women must raise their children alone, often in a separate hut on the outskirts of the village. Crippled by poverty, many are forced to pull their children from school and send them to cities to work as child laborers. Worse still, their vulnerability is often exploited, and if a tiger widow is sexually assaulted, the finger of blame is, yet again, pointed at her…” [Continued at: https://shobdoneerin.com/2025/09/04/sundarbans-tiger-widows-blamed-for-the-kill-shunned-by-society/comment-page-1/?unapproved=79&moderation-hash=3fc82dcecf5c5cbb795093646fb5cb61#comment-79 ]
This post is courtesy of Samiran Mandal who blogs at https://shobdoneerin.com.
The Franciscan Sisters have returned land to the Lac du Flambeau tribe in an effort to repair the painful Native American boarding school legacy. This is the first time a Catholic institution has returned Wisconsin tribal land as an act of reparation.
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The injustice faced by tiger widows is heartbreaking, grief compounded by blame, isolation, and poverty. Thank you, Anna, for shedding light on their stories with such clarity and compassion.
I found the story so moving it required no comment from me. My heart breaks for these women and their children.
This is an example of dreadful cultural practice
Let’s hope that changes are made
Thank you for bringing this to our attention
Truly, a tragic situation, Ravishank.
How sad, Anna. A reminder of how heartless and downright evil superstitious practices can be.
Exactly.
The position of widows in Indian society in general is tenuous at best. Superstition governs so much of pagan cultures, and it extends beyond the boundaries of geography, education, and economic class. Many highly educated and very successful people are superstitious to the extent that it governs decisions made in their every day life. I have a friend from Taiwan who contracted polio as a child and because of her crippled leg, was never invited to weddings while in Taiwan. It’s feared she will bring bad luck to the new couple.
That is terribly sad.
Anna, thank you for sharing this post. The shame women have to bear is again, horrific and so unfair. I have decided that women will never be cherished until we get to heaven. I am going in to read the rest of this amazing although disturbing story. Such a gorgeous photo you used at the top Anna. I loved it.