Arabic echoes, plastic threats and warning gaps laid bare in Sundarbans study
Telegraph | 28 November 2025
Arabic words in daily speech, microplastics clinging to mangrove roots, and gaps in last-mile weather warnings — these layers of culture, ecology and vulnerability were explored at a seminar on the Sundarbans held at Aliah University on Wednesday.
The university’s department of Arabic presented a study highlighting the “strong evidence of Arabic linguistic and cultural influence” in the southernmost tip of Bengal.
“Though Arabic is not native to the region, the research shows its spread through Islamic culture, trade and migration during the Middle Ages. Arabic vocabulary has gradually integrated into local Bengali speech, reflecting not only linguistic but also cultural and religious influences,” the study said.
The research cited words such as haqq (truth), mahalla (neighbourhood), adab (manners/literature), haqiqah (reality), baqi (remaining), and batil (false/void), which have become part of the mangrove’s Bengali dialect over generations.
Arabic’s impact goes beyond language, shaping local identities.
Ghazala Yasmin, assistant professor and head of the department of journalism and mass communication, said: “The temples of Bon Bibi (a legend of the forest worshipped by Hindus and Muslims alike) are proof of the cultural assimilation that defines the mangrove delta. The temples are maintained by Hindus and Muslims together.”
Bon Bibi is believed to have travelled from Medina to the Sundarbans to protect people, forests, and animals. Her legend survives through manuscripts, oral traditions, pala-gans and jatras, with rituals beginning in Arabic incantations.
Last month, university researchers conducted field trips to the mangroves. Each team, led by a faculty member, studied both cultural and ecological aspects.
The seminar included presentations from the research teams, with government officials and environmental activists sharing their experiences of life and work in the Sundarbans.
Yasmin supervised a group examining communication gaps. “When mobile networks collapse, and the electricity fails, official digital alerts do not reach the remote island communities on time,” the report said, highlighting risks for fisherfolk and farmers.
Another team from the department of biological sciences documented microplastics clinging to mangrove roots. The roots appear to function as natural traps, accumulating the deadly pollutants transported by tidal waters.
The Sundarbans is like a shield for Calcutta, absorbing the initial wrath of devastating cyclones. The mangrove trees are the key defenders.
Umashankar Mandal, known locally as the “mangrove man,” spoke of his plantation campaigns, which began after Cyclone Aila in 2009 and earned him the World Wildlife Fund’s Dr Rimington Award in 2021. Rising sea levels could submerge significant swathes of the Sundarbans in the next 25 years if urgent mitigation measures are not adopted, he said.
G.H. Obaidur Rahman, officer on special duty in the Bengal government’s minority affairs and madrasah education department, shared his experience of working in the Sundarbans and lauded local communities for their resilience.