Week 5 Planning: Bengal Tigers

From reading many stories of the Bengali culture, I noticed a common theme - most of the stories contained ghosts. I decided to look up the significance of this on wikipedia. Turns out, ghost play an important rule in Bengali folklore. Even in contemporary stories such as movies and televisions, ghost are often incorporated. It is believed that the spirits of people who could not find peace in the afterlife or died of unnatural deaths such as murder, suicide, or accident, remained on Earth. It is also believed that other animals and creature can be turned into ghost after their death. The common word for ghosts in Bengali is "bhoot" This word also means "past".

Ghost are so prevalent in Bengali culture, that there are several types of ghost that are responsible for different types of actions. In The Story of the Brahmadaitya by Rev. Lal Behari, a ghost is indeed a main character. The author's notes explains the "Brahmadaitya" is a ghost of a Brahman who dies unmarried. From my research, I discovered that a Braymadaitya is one of the most popular kind of ghost in Bengal and are believed to be benevolent. They usually appear wearing a traditional Dhoti, which is a Bengali dress for men. In all stories they are kind and helpful to human beings. This is true of the story I read this week.

In this story, a poor Brahman befriends a Brahmadaitya who helps the Brahman become prosperous and in the end the Brahmadaitya's duties are accomplished and he ascends into the heavens, and everyone lives happily ever after. This story ends the same way many of the Bengali Folktales do, with the phrase "The Brahman lived happily for man years, begetting sons and grandsons".

I think this story would be fun to rewrite for it is uplifting and a story without sadness. Based on the information I researched, the Bengali culutred also believed that other animals are creatures can be turned to ghost. I would like to use the story as a model for my story next week. I would like to write this story using Bengal Tigers as the main characters.

Bengal Tiger Source: NPR.ORG