Dakshin Rai, the “king of the south”, is the tiger-god of the Sundarbans, lord of the mangrove forest's beasts and spirits. In him the delta's people personify the power that rules the jungle and the mortal danger of the man-eating tiger. He is at once adversary and sovereign: feared, propitiated, and given his due respect by all who work the forest.
In the legends
Dakshin Rai appears as a mighty forest-lord in Bengali narrative poetry from at least the later seventeenth century, notably in Krishnaram Das's Raymangal. In the Bonbibi Johuranama he becomes the antagonist of the forest's new guardian: claiming human trespassers as his rightful prey, he is defeated by Bonbibi's brother Shah Jongoli and spared through mediation. The settlement that follows divides the world of the delta — the wild forest remains his, the village belongs to humankind, and those who enter his domain in genuine need do so under Bonbibi's protection. He is thus not banished but bound into a moral order.
Worship
He is usually depicted as a moustachioed lord of martial bearing, and his image or symbol often stands in Bonbibi's own shrines, honoured with her rather than against her. His principal independent seat is the temple at Dhapdhapi in the South 24 Parganas, where he receives year-round worship. Honey-gatherers and woodcutters commonly invoke both deities before entering the forest, and, as with Bonbibi, his devotees include Muslims as well as Hindus.
Further reading
- Dimock, Edward C. The Place of the Hidden Moon. University of Chicago Press, 1966
- Doniger, Wendy. The Hindus: An Alternative History. Penguin, 2009
- Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press, 1996
- Klostermaier, Klaus K. A Survey of Hinduism. State University of New York Press, 2007
- Lipner, Julius. Hindus: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. Routledge, 2010
See also
This entry was last revised on 31 July 2026.