Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 17: Lakhs of people from several northern States of the country and parts of Jammu and Kashmir thronged the shrine of Bawa Jitto at Jhiri village in Marh block of district Jammu, paid their obeisance and participated in this historic annual fair.
Over five lakh people from J&K, Punjab, Himachal, Haryana, Uttrakhand and Delhi visited Jhiri Mela in first two days of the fair. This week long fair is held on Kartik Purnima every year and is connected to the supreme sacrifice of a hard working farmer and a true devotee of Mata Vaishnodevi, who lived about 650 years ago and fought against injustice and old land-lord system.
Originally hailing from Aghar Jitto near Katra, this courageous farmer with his supreme sacrifice gave a message to the people and especially those from farming community that fighting the injustice is the real `Dharma’. His daughter Bua Kauri also went into `Samadhi’ along with her father. `Samadhis’ of both father and daughter were then raised at the same place. And since then a fair is organized at the site for the last over six centuries. There is grand Pacca Talab ( water tank) at the shrine where people from various parts, whose families and ancestors have taken the share of that last crop or even a small quantity of that corn produced by Bawa Jitto, take bath and especially throng this shrine every year and pay their obeisance to Bawa Jitto and offer prayers of regret.
It is said that Baba Jitto, a great Dogra legend and reformer was staunch devotee of Mata Vaisdhnodevi. He used to walk on foot daily from Aghar village (Garkot) near Katra to his fields in Jhiri (Kanha Chak) and return home in the evening. Before leaving for farming work, he used to visit Mata Vaishnodevi cave early in the morning and it was his daily routine.
The shrine was highly decorated by the Management Committee members in association with the district administration and devotees. Various departments including Agriculture, Horticulture, Animal and Sheep Husbandry, Floriculture, Rural Develo-pment, Health, SICOP, Handicrafts, Education etc had erected their stalls to educate the people and create awareness among them. The district administration had made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the fair besides transport, water and uninterrupted electricity supply. Additional deployment of police personnel had been made. There was long temporary market raised at the fair site where merry-go-rounds, jugglers were the source of attraction for the people.
A noted local Theatre group Natrang also staged famous Dogri play ” Bawa Jitto” at the site. Thousands of people witnessed the play by director Balwant Thakur. Divisional Commission Jammu Shantmanu, IGP Rajesh Kumar, DC Ajit Kumar Sahu and MLA Marh, Sukhnandan Choudhary also witnessed the play depicting supreme sacrifice of noted Dogra legend. This remained the major attraction at the Jhiri Mela site.
Minister for Housing and Horticulture Raman Bhalla who inaugurated the fair today said that Government is making all out efforts to provide better facilities to devotees at Bawa Jitto Devsthan Kalyanpur (Jhiri). MLA Marh Sukhnandan Choudhary, Cong MLA Indu Pawar, besides SSP and DC Jammu besides several senior officers from various departments were also present. He congratulated the Management Committee of Jhiri Mela and district administration for making excellent arrangements.
Mr Bhalla laid thrust on ensuring availability of uninterrupted power, water supply and adequate stock of medicines and other essentials at the Mela site. He said that Government has already announced certain measures for the beautification of all the ancient shrines across the State including Bawa Jitto (Marh) and Bawa Sidh Goria in Vijaypur. He also directed the concerned agencies to ensure the proper sanitation there during the mela days and proper regulation of traffic. The minister also visited several stalls raised by various departments and asked people to take benefit from there.
Remembering the life history of Bawa Jitto Mr Bhalla said Bawa was a great spiritual human saint who was truly devoted to Mata Vaishnodevi and used to visit the case shrine of Mata daily from his native village before leaving for works in Jhiri fields. He was also enlightened with special power. Later, the minister also witnessed an imnpressive wrestling competition at the site. Various cultural programme were also presented by the artists of Information Department at the Mela site.
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