Omkar Dattatray
In our country, several fairs and festivals are celebrated round the year. Jammu and Kashmir is also famous for various fairs ,melas, festivals and festivities such as Jhiri Mela,Sankari Mela,Bahu Mela,Baishaki Mela etc .There fairs and festivals add color to our rich culture and depict our unity in diversity .There local fairs and festivals show Dogra culture at the national level. So in our Jammu and Kashmir an annual fair is held in honor and to pay homage to Baba Jitto ,a simple and honest farmer who sacrificed his precious life rather then submit to the unjust demands of the local landlord to part with the crop .He killed himself in the village of Jhiri .It is said that Baba Jitto sat on the heap of crop -grain and stabbed himself with a dagger and all the grains were smeared with his blood .The village Jhiri is located about 20Kms from Jammu ,on the Jammu -Akhnoor highway .Every year during the Kartik Purnima (late autumn full moon) falling during the last week of October and early November ,an annual mela is held here .Lacs of devotees throng the village to commemorate and pay tribute and homage to the martyrdom of Baba Jitto ,an honest and hardworking farmer who gave up his life in protest against the oppressive demands of the Zamindar about 500 years ago .This year the Jhiri festival will be held from 26th November 2023 to 2ndDecember 2023 and it will be frequented by a very large number of people .This Mela symbolizes honesty ,hard work ,courage ,selflessness ,innocence ,humility and above all truthfulness .The domestic as well as foreign tourists and devotees visit Jhiri ,pay obeisance ,seek blessings from Baba Jittu and enjoy mela .Jhiri in fact becomes a mini-India during the Jhiri festival and gives strength to our unity and diversity .People in lakhs come to this village to remember and pay homage to the honest farmer and a great hero of Dogras-Baba Jittu who sacrificed his life for truth and justice and did not budge before tyrannical landlords .Baba Jittu was a legendry farmer and the 16th century Dogra hero whose sacrifice will continue to inspire our generations in future .This fair is celebrated to salute and remember the courage and sacrifice of Baba Jit Mal popularly called as Baba Jittu .The whole Jhiri village is magnificently decorated in advance of the famous mela and a large number of different stalls are erected which sell various items .The whole Jhiri village presents a very beautiful look during the festival as it is decorated like a bride .The people and devotees are mesmerized by the very look of the Jhiri mela and the Jhiri village .Jhiri Mela is associated with the supreme sacrifice of the legendry farmer and a great devote of Mata Vaishno Devi who fought against the local landlord and did not accept his unjust demands and paid the supreme sacrifice if his precious life against the atrocities of the Zamindar and for the cheating of the Kardar .The J&K government sets various stalls and exhibitions to show various technologies for the people and these stalls attract the visitors as being the source of great attraction .Through these exhibitions ,farmers are made aware about various schemes and programs of the government as the stalls exhibit agriculture and allied sectors and are a source of great and valuable information to the farmers .The articles based and related to the life of Baba Jittu such as pots ,books and toys etc are put in the stalls for sale .Baba JItto belonged to Aghar Jitto village of Reasi town .He was the epitome of honesty ,hard work ,innocence ,humility ,courage and what not?Baba Jittu was a Brhamin and a true devote of Mata Vaishno Devi .He left his village because of the hostility of his aunt and went to his friend Iso Megh at Kanachak .There he requested a feudal landlord Mehta Bir Singh of the village Ambgrota for a piece of land .The feudal landlord gave Baba Jitto a piece of barren and unfertile land after signing an agreement that he would give him one fourth of his produce .Baba Jitto worked very hard and turned the barren and unfertile land into fertile land and it gave bumper crop .When the feudal landlord came to know about the fact that the land yielded bumper crop ,he came along with his men to the field and took away three fourth of the crop and left only one fourth for the tenent .Baba Jitto pleaded to the landlord to adhere the terms of the agreement but he forcibly took away the major portion of the produce and this forced Baba Jitto to stab himself after sitting on the heap of the crop which got wet by the blood .His very young daughter sat at the funeral pyre of his father and was burnt along with the dead body of Baba Jitto .A fierce storm came and all the blood stained crop were washed away and all those people and even birds who ate it fell ill and finally deaths and misfortune came to them .In order to seek pardon from the great soul, and worshipped him and they prayed for forgiveness and asked their future generations to visit Jhiri to pay tribute to Baba Jitto every year and made it mandatory .They also worshipped him as Kuldevata .Thus from those good olden days people from north India visit Jhiri village and pay homage to the great soul.
The festivities during the mela last for a week with the main day of the fair being held on Kartik Purnima .People pay obeisance at the Baba Jitto temple and seek his blessings and the blessings of his daughter Bua Kouri ,who as per legend also took her life by jumping on her father’s funeral pyre .Devotees also take a customary dip in the Baba -da-Talab (pond) ,a natural spring four Kms from the temple which is believed to have the curative powers .The Jhiri Mela is also called as the Farmer’s fair as it is celebrated to worship the holy soul of the farmer named Baba Jittu .This fair also creates a significant selling outlet for the sugarcane crop ,which is conveyed by most of the visitors and farmers to the Mela .It is a big occasion for an outing of the family and is particularly rejoiced by children and women. There are numerous stalls loaded with a range of eye-catching goods -from pottery and vases ,to toys ,utensils and books .The Mela almost lasts a week ,dances and songs are also organized and a range of local foods are there to purchase and taste .There are a number of other activities which includes cultural programs and local rustic sporting occasions such as wrestling .The people from north Indian states of Punjab ,Haryana .HP ,Delhi etc visit Jammu and Kashmir to pay obeisance and seek blessings from Baba Jittu .The people take pleasure and enjoy the fair and remember the sacrifice of Baba Jittu and his daughter .All civic arrangements including transport are made by the district administration Jammu .There is great hustle and bustle in Jhiri village during mela .May the great soul of Baba Jitto be a source of inspiration to us and our future generations and may we imbibe his qualities of honesty ,selflessness ,courage ,bravery and ,humility .This will be the true tribute to this great soul.
(The author is a columnist,social and KP activist).
