Lalmonirhat woman claims ‘divine order’ in dream. Her husband buys an elephant

Dulal Chandra Roy, a farmer in Sadar Upazila of Lalmonirhat, has sold his land for Tk 1.7 million to buy an elephant following a ‘divine order’ his wife claimed to have received in a dream.

Thousands of people now crowd Deuti village, Dulal’s birthplace, after he brought the elephant home from Moulvibazar.

Dulal has been married to Tulsi Rani Das for 20 years. They have a son and a daughter and used to run the family by farming.

When the man talks about his wife, he glows: they are not wealthy but they love each other. A devotee of Bhishawkarma and Mahadev, Tulsi has been worshipping the Hindu gods regularly for the past 10 years.

“Around two weeks ago, God himself appeared in Tulsi’s dream and ordered her to buy an elephant. That elephant should be used for healing people and also for worshipping,” Dulal claimed.

He said he was in disbelief after his wife told him about the “divine order”. But he felt that he should follow the order, or else he may face a curse.

Under the circumstances, Dulal sold 3 bighas of his farmland, headed out to Moulvibazar and bought the elephant. He spent Tk 20,000 to rent a truck to bring the elephant home and hired a mahout for Tk 15,000 per month to look after the animal.  

Neighbours said Tulsi had told them earlier about receiving a ‘divine order’ to take care of animals. That is why she bought a horse and then a swan and a goat and took care of them. Recently, she wanted her husband to buy an elephant.    

“Bishawkarma ordered me in my dream to buy an elephant and look after it. The elephant will remain in the house as long as the god wants,” Tulsi told reporters about her dream.

The elephant needs a daily diet of banana plants, 3 kg of husks, 2 kg of jaggery and 2 bunches of bananas.  

Ibrahim, the mahout hired by Dulal for a monthly salary of Tk 15,000, said the elephant owner also arranged for his food and accommodation. He is supposed to coach two villagers on how to look after the elephant. When they are ready to work, Ibrahim will go back home.

“I have heard about the incident. It’s an unusual one,” said Uttam Kumar Roy, upazila nirbahi officer in Lalmonirhat.

The UNO did not respond to the question if keeping a wild animal at home is against the law.