Squadron Leader Anil Sehgal
My father was a post graduate in botany, from the prestigious Banaras Hindu University, when even matriculation was a cherished qualification. Those were the times Jammu would boast of only a handful of graduates.
Generally speaking, I would describe him as a voracious reader and a quiet person. On most of the festivals he would maintain his sobriety.

But, on the festival of Lohri, he would shed his usual reticence and we would see him come alive, energetic and cheerful like a true Dogra warrior of Jammu !
It would not be an exaggeration to say Lohri, and not Holi, was the most boisterous Dogra festival of Jammu when dance and music took the centrestage.

jammu jottings

Lohri falls on the night before MakarSankranti, the holy Hindu festival, mostly on 13th January every year.
MakarSankranti is celebrated by the Hindus all across the country . In the states of Andhra, Kerala and Karnataka people call it plain Sankranti, but In Tamilnadu, it is called Pongal. Likewise, it is called Uttrayan in Gujrat and Uttarakhand, and so on, different names in different states.
Lohri, is widely celebrated by the people of all religions, be they Hindus, Muslims, or Sikhs in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and in Jammu and Kashmir. It is the most cherished festival of Jammu region.
Whilst MakarSankranti has religious connotations, Lohri is a pure folk festival. For Jammu, it used to be the most celebrated festival until the late sixties. Alas ! It is no more !
As the Dogras aped the Western culture, embraced “modernism” of Western education, and gained economic upgrades, their culture took the backstage. Dogri language and Dogra culture, along with religious and social traditions, became a casualty.
Gone are the days when Fattu Di Chogan was a destination to purchase rewari and gajak made from sesame seeds and jaggery or sugar, along with fresh popcorn, colourfulbatashas and roasted peanuts as a preparation to welcome the most endearing festival of Lohri.
Who can imagine the fervour with which the young lads would dance with their chajjas, singing boisterous songs and shouting ” sundarmundri aye, oye” , as they travelled in the lanes of the city, going from one house to the other !
Lohri signifies the setting down of winter season, which is no more true. Thanks to the global warming and shifting patterns of weather charts, winter in Jammu extends right through the month of February. In fact, January and the first half of February is the most severe period of winter of Jammu.
Traditionally, Lohri has three prong celebrations. Most visible and energetic part is the preparation of “chhajja”. It is a well decorated replica of a peacock made with bamboo sticks and colorful paper, fresh flowers, twigs and leaves. Young lads dance with the chhajjas in the streets.
The dancing youth wearing colourful clothes, go from house to house, and dance with all their energy and fervour,
to the rhythms of the dholak in great merriment. They wear garlands of peanuts, dry fruits and batashas, measuring the lanes of the old city holding the chhajjas aloft, and waving them in different patterns.
Elders of the house they visit, greet them with enthusiasm, and offer them gifts like gajak, crystal sugar, jaggery, peanuts and popcorn, in abundance. These gifts constitute what is called “lohri” !! Second part constitutes the feast. People used to gather and lit a bonfire. They worship the fire and put the offerings of peanuts, gur, gajak, mustard greens and the radish. Sarson da saag and makkiki roti is the most cherished dish of the day
In the third part of the celebrations, people take a dip in the river, visit the temples and perform havan. It is a tradition to toss till, peanuts, popcorn and some other foods into the fire at night. This is a thanks giving ceremony to agnidevta, as also to welcome the onset of warm and longer days ahead.
In places like NOIDA, I find the festival is still celebrated in the housing societies where thousands of residents live together in a gated community. Here, even people from the southern and north eastern states of India participate and enjoy the bonhomie.
Today, Chhajjas may have become near obsolete, and there may be lack of religious fervour attached to Lohri in the cities, but it will continue to live long, though in a diluted form. The rites attached to the bonfire will always live and remind us of the old glamour of Lohri.
This is a sad tale of cultural woes that folk festivals like Lohri are losing their significance with each passing year, in its stronghold like Jammu. But, so I think, it will take many decades to kill such a folk festival, If at all it fades away to anonymity.
Why is there a dwindling interest in festivals like Lohri amongst the gen next ?
First, the youth of the day do not know much about their festivals. We, the elders, have miserably failed to impart them the knowledge why these festivals are significant, why are they celebrated, how are they relevant to our culture in the modern times, and so on.
Therefore, it would be a travesty to expect our youth to respect the traditions of celebrating such significant and meaningful folk festivals like Lohri.
I went to my alma mater, Government Gandhi Memorial Science College (previously, Prince of Wales College), and spoke to a few students about Lohri.
I am certainly not shocked to find that these young collegians think Lohri is a redundant festival of Jammu. One student even went to the extent of saying that such festivals are celebrated only in the rural parts of the Dograland. They have no place in the urban landscape of a city like Jammu, he opined !
I am reminded of my college days when, until the late sixties and up to mid seventies, Lohri was celebrated with great social fervour. The streets and the cobbled lanes of Jammu would reverberate with the rhythms of the dholak all day through the evening. Dance and music were the flavours of the day.
Young lads visited the houses which had the newlyweds or a newborn, with their chhajjas and danced until their desired gifts were offered to them by the householders. If they were not happy with the offerings, they will refuse to stop dancing and move out ! It was all done in a jest, but accepted with love and respect !
Back home, bonfire was lit and we all gathered around the agnidevta folding our hands, chanting the shlokas, and giving the “aahuti” of peanuts, sesame seeds, puffed rice, dry fruits and popcorn. All those present would go round the fire several times as a mark of obeisance.
Thereafter, it was music and dance that marked the occasion. Dogri and Punjabi folk songs were sung in unison. My father would take the lead and sing “sundarmundriae” and the whole congregation will respond in unison, “oye” !
Interestingly, a folktale is also related to the festival of Lohri.
During the Mughal rule, in a village of Punjab, a poor farmer had two beautiful daughters, named Sundri and Mundri. The landlord of the village had an evil eye on them. He wanted the father Sunder Das to marry off both the daughters to him.
A Rajput strongman named DullaBhatti, a staunch Punjabi of honour, was against the Mughals. Mughal ruler Humayun had earlier murdered his father Fareed Khan Bhattiand grandfather Saandal Bhatti.
Those days, Hindu girls were sold to rich Mohammedans as sex slaves under duress. Sunder Dass approached DullaBhatti for help. Dulla challenged the zamindar, burnt his fields in retaliation and married off the girls to the grooms chosen by the family.
Dulla Bhatti also performed the rites as a father in the marriage ceremony of the girls. He is said to have given shakkar( powderedjaggery) as a “shagun” to the girls.
In the celebrations following the weddings, a song was weaved and sung by the villagers in merriment mocking the lust of the zamindar, which todate is sung on Lohri festival by those who gather round the bonfire. Thus goes the song :
Sundar Mundri ae -oye
Tera koun vichara -oye
Dulla Bhatti wala – oye
Dulle ne tee vyahi – oye
Ser shakkar payee – oye
Kudi de bojje payee – oye
Kudi da laal pataka – oye
Kudi da shaalu paatta- oye
Shalu koun samete – oye
Chacha gaali dese – oye
Chache choori kutti – oye
Zamindaran lutti- oye
Zamindaran sadaye – oye
Gin-gin pole laaye – oye
Ik Pola ghis Gaya
Zamindara votti laike nass Gaya !
No Lohri festivities are complete without the revellers singing this song aloud in unison and great joy !

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