The Sundarbans Inheritance: A Journey into Nature and Conservation

About the essayist

Bittu Sahgal is an Indian environmentalist, author, and conservationist. He writes mainly on environmental issues, wildlife, biodiversity. His efforts to raise awareness about the importance of preserving the environment and protecting wildlife continue to inspire future generations of environmentalists and conservationists.

Main Themes: Tigers, Mangroves, and Human Interference

The Sundarbans Inheritance is a non-fictional prose that is told from the first-person point of view. The main theme of the essay is tigers which face dangers in the Sundarbans, and mangroves which are declining day by day.

The Sundarbans is well known for their royal Bengal tiger and mangroves, but they are both in decline. The Sundarbans Inheritance by Bittu Sahgal tells us how human interference, climate change, and global warming harm tigers as well as the largest bio-diverse mangrove ecosystem in the world. This essay reveals to us why we should save the Sundarbans and how it is possible to be saved. It also portrays a lively picture of the Sundarbans along with its biodiversity and rich heritage which beautify our journey to the Sundarbans.

In this essay, he talks about Calcutta during his childhood days, and his experience with the tigers, mangroves, and the Sundarbans, and it also reminds us how we’ve been protected by the Sundarbans for years. At the end of the essay, the narrator hopes that mother nature has the power of rejuvenation and renewal, but its restoration and preservation are greatly dependent on human consciousness and efforts.

key themes in the Essay “The Sundarbans Inheritance”:

1. Tigers and Their Decline: The essay highlights the once-thriving tiger population in the Sundarbans, now facing a decline due to human encroachment and poaching.

2. Mangroves and Biodiversity: The importance of mangroves in sustaining biodiversity is discussed. They play a crucial role in supporting both terrestrial and marine life, while also protecting the region from natural disasters.

3. Human Impact: The essay explores how human activities, such as deforestation and poaching, have disrupted the delicate ecological balance of the Sundarbans, threatening its wildlife and natural resources.

Important Word-Meaning:

♦Kakdwip-city of South 24 Paraganas, ♦jetty-a wall or platform is built into the sea where boats can be tied, ♦muddy-soft and watered soil, ♦transfixed-unable to be moved, ♦brushed-touched lightly, ♦keelbacks-non-poisonous, ♦migrating-wandering, ♦sheer-absolute, ♦impressionable-easy to influence, ♦vastness-largeness,♦ mysterious-strange, ♦forbidding-seeming unfriendly and frightening, ♦ tinged-mixed, ♦awe-feeling of fear, ♦pulse race-make somebody excited, ♦recall-call up, ♦pilgrimage-a holy journey, ♦mudbanks-mud on a river bank, ♦resist-make somebody stop,♦ passage-process of moving from one place to another, ♦fascination-charm, ♦inexplicably-unexplained, ♦advent-arrival, ♦moth-an insect, ♦flame-blaze, ♦throb-vibration, ♦lulling-calming, ♦crawl-went through, ♦swamp-wetland, ♦dimension-size, ♦refuge-shelter, ♦terrestrial -dry land, ♦former-previous, ♦canopy-cover or spread, ♦underneath-situated directly below, ♦amidst-in the middle of, ♦ultra-adapted-greatly adapted, ♦extract-remove, ♦brine-saline water, ♦exert-apply, ♦excrete-separate and expel as waste, ♦varying -different in size or nature, ♦swamp-wetland, ♦dispersal-scatter, ♦shoots-young branches ♦magnificent-extremely beautiful, ♦fingertip-using the end of the finger, ♦acutely-intensely, ♦myth-traditional story related to the early history of the people, ♦legend-traditional story of the past which is not authenticated, ♦abound-exist in large number, ♦keenly-intensely, ♦tipping point-changing point, ♦tail spin-a bad situation that is out of control, ♦tangle-knot, ♦cyclonic-resembling a cyclone, ♦minimally-to an extremely small in degree, ♦culinary-related to cooking, ♦imbued-filled with, ♦waterfowl-a bird that frequents water, ♦grip-hold, ♦veritable-respectable, ♦pincer-tool, ♦renew-to make something new, ♦evolution-gradual development of something

Summary of ‘The Sundarbans Inheritance’

In the essay ‘The Sundarbans Inheritance’ the narrator shares all of his experience with Sundarbans and depicts the present scenario of the Sundarbans where tigers are troubled by human beings and mangroves have been destroyed. It is the age of technology and we have all information at our fingertips but there is a turning point in the Sundarbans which is damaged by human beings.Several years ago, Sundarbans was a dark, mysterious, and forbidding place where tigers used to live. The narrator grew up in Calcutta. As a child, he had seen the only tigers in the Alipore Zoo. At that time he had fear and curiosity which were mixed with pure surprise that created wild images of the Sundarbans in the narrator’s mind. Then the narrator felt his pulse race to think about visiting a forest where tigers were out of cages.Once the narrator stood on the wooden Kakdwip jetty where snakes touched his legs lightly and he was unable to move from there in shock. He thought them to be non-poisonous snakes but probably they were wandering dog-faced snakes or common snakes. At that time, he was in a wild land in which the water of the Hooghly River fell into the Bay of Bengal. This seemed to be large for the narrator. So, he felt overwhelmed and began to have a love affair with the Sundarbans.

The narrator loved the Hooghly River and recalled all of his boat trips and visits. When he became mature, he began his journey. He drove south along the 50 km road from Kolkata, past Diamond Harbour, past Kulpi, and reached Kakdwip, just short of Sagar Island in the Sundarbans.

In Kakdwip, the fishermen told him that crocodiles and sharks were very common there, but he did not see them looking at the open water and mudbanks. He knew from the fishermen that the tigers used to live there a long time ago and they could be found in Bangladesh.The attraction of the narrator to the Sundarbans becomes stronger after several trips and the passage of many years. He realizes something awe-inspiring about the wetlands that nobody can explain as they existed before the arrival of human beings. So, he returns there like a moth to a flame. While entering the tidal world, three things influence us -blue skies, green mangroves, and brown mud. There are similarities between the mangrove-lined mudbanks and the comforting vibration of boat engines which have a calming effect on us as minutes turn to hours and then days in the water world of the Sundarbans. Many surprises go through our lives from muddy shores.

Bittu Sahgal’s Call to Preserve the Sundarbans

According to Bittu Sahgal, the Sundarbans has stored much that cannot be understood by those who have not experienced a mangrove swamp in its proper size. It is a halfway world between land and sea where terrestrial and marine species get shelter. The terrestrial species live on land and occupy the upper canopy of shrubs and trees whereas the marine species live underneath amidst the roots and mud in the salt water. Mangroves can survive in both saltwater and freshwater, unlike most other species as they have adapted a unique filtration system to remove most of the salt from the water it takes in. They can also save water in their leaves like desert plants to use later on. Even further, some mangroves have special roots that stick up out of the water to help with gas exchange. Some species excrete salt through glands in their leaves. In addition, all mangroves disperse their offspring by water.

The Role of Mangroves and Biodiversity in the Ecosystem

Sundarbans is the world’s largest contiguous mangrove forest and is a designated world heritage site. At present, the Sundarbans faces several challenges as we are unaware of our responsibility to the earth. With rising sea levels, islands are disappearing and the increasing salinity in the water and soil has severely threatened the health of mangrove forests and the quality of soil and crops. If mangroves are destroyed, the fish catch will fall and a few people will be unable to sustain their livelihood. Again, human beings interfere in the lives of the tigers and their co-habitants and most of the animals lose their lives which pushes the ecosystem to be very chaotic. So, we are intensely aware of the wonderful myths and legends of the undefeatable Sundarbans.

The Sundarbans has many plants, canals, and islands that have saved Kolkata and Khulna from the natural phenomenon for many years. But all people are not aware of it. Millions of people sustain their livelihood from the fish markets, melting pots of Bengali culture, and culinary pride. Yet, they are not aware that they have benefited from the Sundarbans’ inheritance. Nature is the fount of human inspiration. Our music, art, history, cultures, religions, and philosophies sprang from wild nature and unearthly swamps where tigers, sharks, turtles, dolphins, and migrating waterfowls live. The amazing diversity of life in the Sundarbans and some upcoming discoveries by science are being troubled because of deforestation and rising seas. This is a serious threat to everyone who needs to cooperate with nature to renew all.

Disclaimer: The study notes on The Sundarbans Inheritance by Bittu Sahgal provided here are entirely my original work, created for educational purposes. These notes offer insights, summaries, and analyses based on my understanding and research. They do not include any copyrighted content from the original book. This material is intended solely to assist learners in better understanding the topic.