Niranjan Mondal, the author of Ujaan Bhatir Kathokata, was born in the village Kochukhali, adjacent to the Sundarbans, in 1955. He used to work in a nationalized bank in India, but his passion has been literature. He has published several volumes of poetry including Ofuran Aranyaneel (1988) and Bishonno Canvas (2014). A collected volume of his short stories has been published with the title Badaboner Padaboli. He lives and breathes the history, nature, anthropology, and ecology of the Sundarbans.Sucheta Bhattacharya the translator as well as editor of this volume is currently Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her research interest includes mid-nineteenth century English and Bangla literature, with focus on the ‘marginalized’ authors and texts. She is also a keen translator and has contributed to several translation anthologies, both fiction and non-fiction. She is a co-editor of the series ‘Studies in Comparative Literature’ published by Jadavpur University Department of Comparative Literature and Orient-Blackswan. She is also currently editing a volume of translations of Bangla short stories focusing on Indo-Bangladesh border experiences as part of the same series, to be published in 2025.

• Introduction 1. A Tale of High and Low Tides 2. Historicizing Marginal Ecology: Roots and Narrative, the Dynamics of the Traditional Fishing Mechanism through the ‘Popular Prism’ of the Sundarbans 3. Village Gods and the Dance of Death in the Sundarbans 4. The Relentless Tide of History: Human Ecology in A Tale of High and Low Tides 5. Interview with Niranjan Mondal

Niranjan Mondal, the author of Ujaan Bhatir Kathokata, was born in the village Kochukhali, adjacent to the Sundarbans, in 1955. He used to work in a nationalized bank in India, but his passion has been literature. He has published several volumes of poetry including Ofuran Aranyaneel (1988) and Bishonno Canvas (2014). A collected volume of his short stories has been published with the title Badaboner Padaboli. He lives and breathes the history, nature, anthropology, and ecology of the Sundarbans.Sucheta Bhattacharya the translator as well as editor of this volume is currently Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her research interest includes mid-nineteenth century English and Bangla literature, with focus on the ‘marginalized’ authors and texts. She is also a keen translator and has contributed to several translation anthologies, both fiction and non-fiction. She is a co-editor of the series ‘Studies in Comparative Literature’ published by Jadavpur University Department of Comparative Literature and Orient-Blackswan. She is also currently editing a volume of translations of Bangla short stories focusing on Indo-Bangladesh border experiences as part of the same series, to be published in 2025.

• Introduction 1. A Tale of High and Low Tides 2. Historicizing Marginal Ecology: Roots and Narrative, the Dynamics of the Traditional Fishing Mechanism through the ‘Popular Prism’ of the Sundarbans 3. Village Gods and the Dance of Death in the Sundarbans 4. The Relentless Tide of History: Human Ecology in A Tale of High and Low Tides 5. Interview with Niranjan Mondal

Niranjan Mondal, the author of Ujaan Bhatir Kathokata, was born in the village Kochukhali, adjacent to the Sundarbans, in 1955. He used to work in a nationalized bank in India, but his passion has been literature. He has published several volumes of poetry including Ofuran Aranyaneel (1988) and Bishonno Canvas (2014). A collected volume of his short stories has been published with the title Badaboner Padaboli. He lives and breathes the history, nature, anthropology, and ecology of the Sundarbans.Sucheta Bhattacharya the translator as well as editor of this volume is currently Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her research interest includes mid-nineteenth century English and Bangla literature, with focus on the ‘marginalized’ authors and texts. She is also a keen translator and has contributed to several translation anthologies, both fiction and non-fiction. She is a co-editor of the series ‘Studies in Comparative Literature’ published by Jadavpur University Department of Comparative Literature and Orient-Blackswan. She is also currently editing a volume of translations of Bangla short stories focusing on Indo-Bangladesh border experiences as part of the same series, to be published in 2025.

• Introduction 1. A Tale of High and Low Tides 2. Historicizing Marginal Ecology: Roots and Narrative, the Dynamics of the Traditional Fishing Mechanism through the ‘Popular Prism’ of the Sundarbans 3. Village Gods and the Dance of Death in the Sundarbans 4. The Relentless Tide of History: Human Ecology in A Tale of High and Low Tides 5. Interview with Niranjan Mondal