PHOTO-ESSAY VISUAL ETHNOGRAPHY Vol. 10, No. 1, 2021, ISSN 2281-1605. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12835/ve2019.1-0159 THE KAMOT GANGA PUJA; SHARKS OF SUNDARBAN Raj Sekhar Aich, “Human animal conflict advisor”, for the Sundarban Tiger Widow Welfare Society (Westbengal, India) ABSTRACT There are innumerable undocumented shark (locally called Kamot) bite incidents on the women of Sundarban, but there is no artistic or cultural portrayal of sharks of the region in any form. This lack of representation creates lack of knowledge about this conflict -- and its effects on the women as well as the sharks. In an effort to remedy this situation, a unique Ganga Debi puja was held in the Sundarbans, where a shark was created as her vahana, and with a girl child of the Sundarbans on her lap. This is a narrative documentation of that puja, it’s reasons and effects, and the day leading up to it. KEYWORDS Sundarban sharks; Idol worship; Human-animal conflict; Anthrozoology; Human-shark relations; Multispecies ethnography BIO I am a marine social scientist; my work is the holistic study of cultural and naturalscapes shaped by physical and symbolic interactions of humans with the marine environment and life forms. I pursue not only creating academic knowledge but to spread it through various mediums like painting, documentary, public speaking and public media presentations. I recently completed my last PhD in Marine Anthropology, where I investigated the networks and affective relations among humans and great white sharks encountering each other through cage diving in New Zealand, 1,600 km from Antarctica. rajsekhar.aich@gmail.com; rajsekharaich.com