The Tragic Tale of the River: A Story of Sacrifice, Fate, and the Supernatural

This incident involves an individual named Mujahid Moja, whose home is in the south of the Upazila Dakkhin Union in the Matlab region of Chandpur district. The event took place sometime between 1999 and 2000. The actual event occurred in Bishnupur village, located in the Sadar Upazila of Chandpur district, during the early post-monsoon period when farming began in the fields next to the river. Many farmers in that area cultivate a type of mustard known as 'rai'.

At that time, a wedding took place in the village, which was conducted very beautifully. After the marriage, the new groom, along with his bride, returned to his house. Two days later, the bride and groom were visiting her in-laws, and they were receiving warm hospitality and care. This scenario was quite typical for our village.

Around noon, the groom’s brother-in-law suggested they go for a bath in the river since it was very close to their house and many people often bathe there at midday. The groom agreed, saying that he hadn't had a bath in the river for a long time and had actually forgotten when he last did so. Then, with a towel in hand, the brother-in-law and the groom set off towards the river. Meanwhile, some of the brother-in-law’s friends joined them, and they were laughing and joking as they made their way to the riverbank.

Before long, they reached the river. After arriving, they recognized several farmers who had been working nearby and had also attended the wedding. Since they didn't get a chance to talk much on the wedding day, they were able to chat for five to ten minutes before heading into the river to bathe.

Once they were in the water, the brother-in-law and his friends suggested to the groom, “Let’s play hide-and-seek in the water, just like how it’s done.”Then the brother-in-law also consented with a smile; in fact, he hadn’t bathed in the river for a long time either, and as a result, he agreed. The game continued for about five to ten minutes, when suddenly, this Shalaka, whoever he is, remarked that he hadn’t seen the brother-in-law for quite a while. In this hide-and-seek game, when someone dives into the water, they look up to see who else is up there. Now, as everyone raised their heads together, at first, it seemed that the brother-in-law had submerged and wasn’t visible, but after a considerable time had passed, when he wasn’t coming up or could not be seen, he started telling other friends, “Why can’t I see this brother-in-law?” Those who were there, including Shalaka’s friends, were also saying, “Hey, I haven’t seen him for a long time either. I thought maybe he had dived and wasn’t coming up.” This was just one person’s statement, but soon it became clear that everyone shared the same concern; they all reflected that when the brother-in-law had submerged, he was gone, but when everyone spoke up without having seen him, it became evident that the brother-in-law had indeed been missing for a long time.

Shalaka and his friends then thought that perhaps the brother-in-law had gone back up for some fun. They decided to search for him. When they asked the farmers who were working on the riverbank whether they had seen the brother-in-law walking away or crossing to the other side of the river, they all replied, “No, we haven’t seen him go that way nor have we seen him get away.” They also asked those on the other side of the river if they had seen someone leave, but they too said, “No, we haven’t seen anyone go.” Then the shouting began, and it was clear that the brother-in-law couldn’t be found. Everyone present started looking for him, and the farmers joined in the search as well, but no one could find him. In the meantime, the news reached the in-laws, and they hurriedly came, but he couldn’t be found anywhere. In this scenario, one person exclaimed, “Hey, there’s a good diver in our area; quickly bring him here.”So this diver has a special trait; he reportedly could stay underwater for three to four hours without oxygen. Before entering the water, he had a towel, and he would recite a specific prayer over this towel before releasing it into the water. After letting it go, if the towel sank, he would not go underwater; but if the towel completely floated on the surface, then he would dive in. Many said that the spirits beneath the water had taught him a special prayer, this method, and that this power was granted to him by Allah. This was a notable attribute that many knew about.

Anyway, two men quickly went to the nearby village, to the diver’s house, but they found out that he wasn’t home. He had gone to Chandpur Sadar for a personal matter. The people were disappointed, unsure how long it would take for him to return. The family mentioned that it would definitely be evening. This was around 1999 or 2000, during a time when mobile phones weren’t prevalent; even when they existed, they weren't widely accessible. Back then, communication required manual effort, meaning messages had to be sent through people.

However, the fare from Bishnupur village to Chandpur Sadar was 50 taka, making it clear how far it was. Still, two men had gone. Once in Chandpur Sadar, they wondered where to search. They had a general idea from the family, but eventually returned without finding any clues. Later, shortly after sunset, the diver returned home. A few people were already waiting at the house for him, and when he arrived, he said that he couldn’t go right away, as there were some restrictions on those tasks and even if he went, he wouldn’t be able to be found.The reason is that it is now nighttime, and sunlight only reaches a certain depth in the water. Therefore, nothing can be seen once it goes down; thus, nothing can be done before morning. Right after Fajr, I will go there, and you should come too, InshaAllah. I will try my best. People are returning disappointed, and the family of the groom has also heard the news and are quickly coming over. Truly, the situation in that family is quite restless; a mourning atmosphere has emerged. It has been just two days since the girl's wedding, and already such an incident has occurred. The girl keeps crying continuously. As morning arrives, people gather there in large numbers. The diver arrives at the scene himself, and he was informed in detail beforehand. The diver begins his work by initially stepping into knee-deep water. Then, taking a towel from his boat, he recites a prayer and blows on it, releasing it onto the water. As soon as he releases it, it seems that something from below pulled the towel with a sudden tug, taking it a little away while something underneath is moving around with it. After a while, the towel starts to sink, and it feels like something from below has thrown the towel towards the diver. Witnessing this, the diver becomes frightened.

In such incidents, towels generally sink slowly, but this time something has yanked it away, and it is swirling underneath. As far as can be seen beneath the water, it looks like something specific is playing with it. Then it gets thrown, which is a terrifying thing for the diver; this is the first time such an event has occurred in his life. He realizes that there is some serious trouble here.He then recited a prayer again and released the cloth into the water. Once again, a similar incident occurred. The diver said, "Look, I can't do this. I’m being repeatedly advised against doing this work; please forgive me." At that, the people's family members, pleading with him, asked what he would do. Yet he declined again. Then the new bride began to cry, her wailing piercing the heavens as she pleaded with the diver, "If you were my father today, wouldn’t you do this for your daughter? I just got married two days ago, and today, on the fourth day, am I supposed to become a widow? If you know anything about this, please try for me. Would you want to see your daughter in a widow's sari? Surely you wouldn’t want that."

This way, she softened the diver's heart, but the diver also had a daughter who was married. In that girl, he saw a reflection of his own daughter. As a result, the diver said, "Alright, I'll go, but I don't know whether I will survive or not. I’m going just by looking at your face; it could be that this is the last work of my life. It might also be that after this task, I won’t have long to live. Death is inevitable. But if I can help you even a bit, I’m willing to embrace that death." With this, the diver recited some prayers in front of everyone and submerged himself in the water. Thousands of people sat on the riverbank, eagerly awaiting when the diver would resurface with the boy, whether he was alive or dead. The diver went under, and 20 to 25 minutes or half an hour passed. After a while, he suddenly surfaced alone. Fear showed on his face, and he looked serious. The crowd then asked him, "What happened? Where is the boy?" The diver replied, "When I submerged and slowly descended into the water..."At that moment, I could sense that something was going to happen to me today, and I already had an idea of what could happen underwater. When I realized that someone was approaching me, I couldn't see them. I looked back but couldn’t find anyone. I went a bit deeper when suddenly I heard a deep voice telling me, "Hey, don’t go there. If you go there, you'll face a lot of harm. You should leave." When I heard this, I became really scared and stopped right there. I looked around to see who was saying these words but couldn’t see anyone. Then my mind told me to swim up, but I remembered the face of that girl who looked like my daughter, and the sound of her cries. I started to descend slowly again, and as I did, I saw a spot free of water where I could breathe. I was familiar with this kind of environment, so I began searching for her. Suddenly, I saw a man sitting below, wearing a white jubba. As I approached him slowly, I recognized him because I had met him before.

I reached in front of him, gave him a long salute, and said, "Please forgive me, I was forced to come here. If I incur any harm, so be it." The man replied, "I had already warned you from above not to come here. Yet you still came, and now you are going to face a lot of harm. We can't even prevent this now." Then I accepted everything and explained to him that the bride from our area, who looks like my daughter, is crying and cannot be found while bathing. You surely know where she is, right?At that moment, the man said, "Yes, I know he is right here with me, but I can't bring him back to life in any way. And you, don't come here trying to show your power, my friend. The power we have given you will be taken away, and you won't be able to escape from here either. Now you make a decision: will you come here to show your power with me, or will you take his body away? But remember, since you are here despite being warned, you will face some consequences. However, we cannot prevent that harm from happening. Remember, the one you came to take; look, this is his body. He is not alive; he has been killed. Now tell me, will you take the body away, or will it stay here? If you take the body, you will suffer some loss. If it stays here, there is a lesser chance of your suffering, but I cannot guarantee that you won't be harmed."

Then the diver decided that he would go up. After that, the diver said, "Now I have spoken to you about what you'll do. Should I bring the body or leave it there?" Those present, the relatives, all said, "Whether alive or dead, we should see him one last time. Please bring him." The diver knew that going to bring him now could bring danger to himself since he had been warned repeatedly. Obliging, the diver plunged into the water again. After a little while, the locals all saw him swimming back, holding the body with both hands. He had suddenly appeared, and then slowly he was trying to come forward. As soon as people saw the diver holding the body, everyone else jumped in to help, bringing the body up. The cries of the in-laws, especially the new bride, were heart-wrenching, and the thousands present wept. Anyway, that groom was taken to his own home, i.e., his father's house, where he was buried.For now, it may seem like the events have come to an end, but that is not the case. Do you remember what the person under the water said? He mentioned that there would be a loss that no one could prevent, especially not after five to six months from that incident. A tragic event occurred involving a diver; he had gone to a nearby place to do some work, and at that time, it was the season for jute harvesting. He was cutting down jute plants in his field when suddenly someone came to inform him that a boat had capsized in the river in front of their house. He needed to go there; it was essentially a fishing boat, and the people coming to recover it were all local residents, so he couldn't refuse them.

When he arrived at the scene, he recited prayers before diving into the water that day. However, he did not put on a towel while entering the water; he was contemplating what to do. Such boat capsizings happen quite frequently, and finding the boat is not an exceedingly difficult task. He thought he would dive and see if he could locate it. Then, in certain spots, there were things to tie, either ropes or other materials that needed to be fastened. There is a process for retrieving these kinds of items, and one must follow that procedure.After that, others will do it; he will identify the trawler and tie the ropes in certain places. This is the task. He has dived into the water, but after diving, a long time passes without any news of him. Meanwhile, the locals and those present are very worried, wondering why he hasn't surfaced yet. Doing this, almost two to three hours pass. At that point, the diver's daughter's husband, who had learned a bit from his father-in-law about how to dive down, also dives into the water after reciting a prayer. Five to six minutes after he dives, he comes up with the lifeless body of his father-in-law. Everyone present witnesses a tragic scene. It’s not just the diver who has died; there were also two large iron nails at the front of the trawler that had pierced the diver’s eyes. The diver's son-in-law tells everyone that he was found trapped under the trawler. The trawler had actually sunk earlier. How did he get under the trawler? It’s evident that the cause of the diver's death is mysterious. However, while we can understand the reasons behind the diver's mysterious death, we have no information on the crime committed by the son-in-law who died, or why he died. Dear listeners, I mentioned at the beginning that many people in this profession risk their lives for the benefit of others, and many have died as a result. The Owner of Life and Death, Allah, determines everything; perhaps his death was written to happen this way, and the same goes for the son-in-law’s death; it was destined that way. No one could have prevented it. Yet, even in risking their lives, people can descend for others despite the dangers. This truly not only saddens us but also inspires us to advance ourselves for the benefit of others.