Lalit Gupta
The identity of a people is defined by the Gods and heroes they worship. In fact, the heroes and gods they venerate are a commentary of the people on themselves and their cultural identity.
The Jhiri Mela held on Kartik Purnima every year to honour and celebrate the memory of folk hero Bawa Jitto, who laid down his life to defend the values of honesty and justice, is a testimony to the Dogra character of making supreme sacrifice of life not only as warriors but also to uphold cherished values.
While the official histories written by the elite historian have remained silent about the exemplary and revolutionary character of the Bawa Jitto; a simple but honest farmer, it was left to the real conscience keepers of the society- the folk poets and bards to raise the unsung but fearless persona of Baba Jitto to the status of folk hero and later on as a folk deity.
The generations of Yogis and ‘Gardis’ have been singing Bawa’s Karaks (devotional ballads) to immortalize him and also to inscribe his sacrifice and fight for justice as inseparable part of folk consciousness and character. The folklore thus has kept him alive in Jammu’s culture and collective memories.
To be held on November 27, this year, the Jhiri Mela, a living manifestation of vibrant folklife in this age of rapid urbanization, is one of the most attended fairs in north India that brings together more than five lakh people at Jhiri village near Shamachak, situated some 22 kilometers from Jammu city on Akhnoor-Poonch road.
Popular since the pre-partition days, the devotees to the nine days long mela at Jhiri come here from Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi and other parts of north India, to pay obeisance to the Dogra folk hero.
Village Jhiri with Samadhi of Bawa Jitto, the main shrine around with many other religious structures built in phases by devotees since last century onwards has acquired the status of a thrtha and slowly growing as a destination of pilgrimage tourism today.
The Samdhi of Bawa Jitto is a symbol of his supreme sacrifices which he made some 550 years ago. According to folklore, called as Jit Mal, he was an honest and truthful farmer. A Brahmin and devotee of Mata Vaishno Devi and Raja Mandalik, Jit Mal used to live in Aghar village near Katra, Vaishno Devi.
Fed up with the hostile attitude of his aunt Jojan, who time and again was even threatening the life of his dear daughter Bua Kori, he decided to leave the village and go to his friend, Iso Megh at Kahnachak. There he met Mehta Bir Singh, a feudal lord of the Ambgrota and urged him to provide a piece of land for tilling. Mehta Bir Singh gave Jit Mal a piece of barren land after signing an agreement, that he would give him the one-fourth of his produce.
Jit Mal worked hard day and night and transformed the barren land into lush green fields. His dream was realized when he had a luxuriant yield. As soon as, Bir Singh got the news regarding the good yield, he arrived at the fields along with his men and asked them to lift three fourth of the crop and leave only a quarter with Jit Mal.
However, Bawa Jitto pleaded to follow the terms of the agreement but all his requests fell on deaf ears. Most of the farmers from nearby areas, who had gathered could not stop Mehta due to fear of authority and his power. Left with no solution and no means of help, he uttered last words saying ‘sukki kanak nain khayaan mehtya, dinna ratt ralayi’ (don’t eat raw wheat, oh Mehta, let me mix my blood in it’), stabbed himself sitting on the heap of crop, leaving all grains drenched red with his blood.
After hearing about the death of her father, Bua Kori with help of their pet dog Kalu, located his dead body which had been hidden in the Simbal tree trunk by the goons of Mehta. She then lit the pyre and burnt herself with her father. It is said after that a fierce rain storm raged the area and the heap of blood strained grains was washed away. All those people and even the birds who had partaken those grains suffered from various afflictions, including diseases, untimely deaths, misfortunes and ‘yatars’. Realizing it was the wrath of the holy soul, they not only asked for forgiveness by worshiping him but also made it mandatory on their future generation to venerate Bawa Jitto and pay annual homage at his shrine.
The members of local and outside communities, who worship Bawa Jitto as a kuldevta (family deity) come here throughout the year to pay obeisance on occasions of important events in their families like marriage, birth of child, mundan (tonsuring ceremony) or simply to thank or entreat the Bawa for his continuing protection and blessings.
The most important event in the Jhiri Mela is ritual taking of holy dip in Baba Da Talab which is known to have miraculous power of curing skin diseases. During the Mela, when people from all over India come to pay homage to Baba Jitto at his shrine, the village Jhiri, wears a festive look. A huge market comes up at the site of the Mela and shops and stalls selling sweets, food items and all sorts of wares like pottery, vases, utensils and toys to books on Bawa Jitto, are set up. Merry-go-rounds, slides, umpteen number of entertainment stall and kiosks, rural sports like dangal (wrestling) also form an important feature of the fair.
In addition to being a religious event, the Mela also provides a marketing outlet to local farmers, especially the sugarcane growers. As the area is famous for sugarcane crop, most of visitors in mela purchase sugarcane and take it along with them. During the fair, exhibitions and stalls are organized by different government departments like agriculture, horticulture and floriculture, drug control organization and rural development and other departments to educate the people about various government schemes and incentives so that people could avail the benefits.
Jhiri Mela also known as ‘Farmer’s Festival’, which now lasts for almost nine days days and is an exemplary experience for all its visitors, especially the jean clad younger generations who unfortunately are fast forgetting the fragrance of good earth.
From the point of view of the dynamics of folklore, the Jhiri Mela is in fact is a moment of transfer, an event when another generation rises to receive, and go forward, to make possible the continuity of culture and tradition.
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