Event, Image, Affect: The Tsunami in the Folk Art of Bengal

Abstract

As inhabitants of a low-lying riverside region prone to flooding, rural Bengalis have an intimate association with the power of water—the river as a beneficial source of life but equally as the purveyor of death and destruction. The river is anthropomorphized either as the goddess Ganga who is seen riding on her vahana (vehicle) the makara, a mythic beast, or is made manifest through its inhabitants such as the serpents who are the denizens of the watery underworld and their queen, the goddess Manasa. These divinities embody the qualities of the river, appearing simultaneously as both wrathful and benevolent. They are quick to anger, often killing with little provocation, but are also easily appeased. In fact, the river in spate is thought to be a manifestation of the goddess’ play—her lila. This particular view of devastation as a form of divine play is different from the Judeo-Christian idea of disaster as retribution visited on humanity as a form of transgression (Dimock 1982). Instead, it is a sign of the goddess’ presence. Affliction is viewed as a form of grace manifest in historical events such as floods, epidemics, and famines (Dimock 1982; Nicholas and Sarkar 2003). Bengal has produced several literary genres that explore the connection between historical events and divine play. One of the best known is the mangalkavya—a “eulogistic type of middle-Bangla text”—devoted to describing the lila of gods and goddesses who visit the realm of mortals leaving signs of their auspicious presence through specific events (Dimock 1982, 184).

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