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.
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