Mohd Yaseen
‘Jhiri Mela’ witnesses the visit of over one million devotees every year from all-over India particularly from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, U.P and Rajasthan. Since the year 2000, the major attractions of the devotees have been the staging of mega theatre show featuring the life and sacrifice of a farmer hero and a great devotee of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ‘Bawa Jitto’. Perhaps people are not aware that no where in the world one can find the audience numbering over Fifty Thousand witnessing a live theatre show, but it happens next door, in the outskirts of Jammu city. Balwant Thakur the creator, designer and director of this play took this extraordinary challenging initiative to showcase the 15th century saga of Duggarland with the motive to take it to larger number of audiences. He has always been advocating at every forum that we have been failing to recognise our cultural strengths. This is a unique occasion of the world where thousands of the audiences are transported to a journey of 15th century happening unfolding the story of a poor farmer whose sacrifice left such an imprint for generations to adore and admire virtues of this farmer folk hero of the region. To ensure that this live presentation reaches to the mammoth audiences, Natrang has been using latest developed methodologies including video projections at different levels so the play reaches thousands of the audiences. The idea is just not to educate the audiences about the life story of ‘Bawa Jitto’ but this is also an opportune moment for Natrang to expose the spectators to the amazingly rich cultural traditions of Duggarland. Interestingly the play is staged in Dogri language imbibing and assimilating the entire repository of all the traditional cultural expressions of the region. This way Natrang’s this initiative is contributing in a big way in disseminating, preserving, promoting and propagating the rich cultural heritage before large all-India audiences. At occasions we have heard Balwant Thakur making appeals before the government to recognise this unique cultural potential and vibrant strength of Jammu which has all the elements to make this place as one of the most sought-after cultural destination of the world. Having travelled the majority of the world, he has been sharing with authority that no-where on this earth a live theatre performance attracts this much captive and devoted audiences. But to make it a world happening we are required to create the infrastructure of that class and quality matching international standards. For that we need to have the required will, foresight and world vision. In the year 2005, the department of tourism Jammu on the persuasion of Balwant Thakur, created a simple platform designed by him at the venue. He desired the authorities to develop it further to make it a permanent open-air stage with appropriate sitting, lighting and sound facilities. That has not happened till date but with the mission of ‘Show must go on’, Natrang has always been endeavouring to ensure that two to three shows of Bawa Jitto are held every year in the annual Jhiri Mela. It was only during the lockdown period of COVID when the staging of Bawa Jitto was discontinued but otherwise this is the 23rd year when people will have the occasion again to witness the shows on 26th and 27th of November, 2023 at the main stage of Jhriri daily at 7 pm. Fact remains that no substantial support and enthusiasm has ever been shown by the government to realise the dreams of Balwant Thakur. For few years Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board has been providing a grant under its larger social responsibility to Natrang for showcasing six shows of this play on the life of a great devotee of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi at Mela Aghar Jitto, Navratra Festival, Katra and Jhiri Mela, two shows at each festival every year.
We need appreciate that over the years the thrust of tourists is changing. There has been a time when tourists used to throng only to picturesque places in India but over the years this trend is rapidly changing. Cultural tourism is now in vogue and to cater to this new trend tourism, J&K Government must pay little attention to such kind of rarest opportunities which has the immense potential to convert this usual Mela into a world destination of live cultural happenings. In the absence of a defined futuristic approach and required will, the opportunities of such a kind of mega cultural happenings like the staging of ‘Bawa Jitto’ are not being taken casually and not utilised to the optimum.
The conceptualizer, designer and director of this mega theatre show who is exposed to the major world cultural events has devised the Bawa Jitto show in such a manner that it has all the fine elements which has the amazing potential to attract global audiences and attention. The entire production is based on the pure art of spectacular visual poetry where the theatre of images speak beyond the boundaries of language barriers. The visual imagery, the ethnic music, singing of Karkan-a tradition of about a thousand years, the beautifully choreographed dances of Kud, mesmerising performances of Phumanian, Geetru, Soiyan, Bhakhan, Tudd, and Tappe makes it a production of unique global standards where the language of music and electrifying eye-catching imagery makes it a theatre of the universe. The story of Bawa Jitto portrays the age-old saga of exploitation of landless farmers by landlords. Due to the constant and persistent pressures of relatives, with a piece of land as bone of contention, Bawa Jitto, a hard working, farm less farmer is forced to leave his native village. Accompanied by his nine-year-old daughter, he takes shelter in the house of a friend in Shamachak, a nearby village.
The efforts of his friend Rullo result in a land grant from the landlord in Shamachak and one fourth of the produce is fixed as land revenue. The hard work put in by him, the sweat and toil of Jitto turns a barren land into prolific treasure. This makes avaricious landlord to back out on his word and ask for a major share of the crop. Helpless Jitto, unable to endure injustice, kills himself. The agony becomes boundless when Gauri, his little daughter, immolates herself on her father’s pyre.
Fact remains that Natrang’s this effort has not only revived and enlivened the 15th century folk tale but also while telling this story has also capsulized the vibrant cultural traditions of the region, thus serving a major cultural cause of its preservation, promotion and dissemination amongst masses. History may forget the might of the rulers and the beauty of the queens but this selfless contribution of Natrang Jammu and its foresighted director Balwant Thakur aimed at promoting and preserving the rich legacy of language and culture will always be remembered by generations to come.