Jhiri Mela, one of the largest
farmers mela in the north-India is celebrated every year with great enthusiasm.
The mela is held at “Jhiri” 20 kms away from the jammu city, which lasts for a
week. This year’s festival was inaugurated by the Divisional Commission Jammu
Mr.Shant Manu in presence of Deputy Commissioner Ajit Kumar Sahu & Mela officer
and SDM Marh Sunita Sharma. This mela is celebrated every year on Kartik purnima
with great fervor. 550 years ago on this day Bawa Jitto sacrificed himself for
the cause of farmers, since then this mela is celebrated in his memory. This
mela is held from centuries & has achieved historical importance. In the mela
lakhs of people of the state & abroad are participating.Bawa Jitto was born at
village Aghar Jitto near Katra. The land of this village was not much fertile,
as a result it did not yield much production so Bawa Jitto had to face tough
task to meet the expenditures of his family. At that time Jagirdar system was
prevelant in the state & the farmers were allotted land for cultivation of crops
against the land revenue or a portion of crops. So Bawa Jitto, too decided to
search for a fertile piece of land & make a compromise with the Jagirdar to get
a fertile piece of land so that he could also look after his family
appropriately. He proceeded to different parts of Jammu & finally reached to
Kana Chak , 20 kms away from Jammu, where river Chenab nearby. There he had a
fertile land piece, which was a Jagir of Jagirdar Bir Singh Mehta. It is
pertinent to mention that Bawa Jitto found this piece of land at village Jhiri
much fertile. He thought that if he could get an opportunity to acquire this
peace of land, he could make his life comfortable. Then he approached Bir Singh
Mehta with the request for allotment of this said land. Bir Singh Mehta accepted
the request with the condition to grant 1/4th of the agricultural production to
him as land revenue. Baba Jitto accepted the conditions & Bir Singh Mehta
granted him some land in village Jhiri. Bawa worked hard on this land &
succeeded in raising a bumper crop. The officials of Bir Singh Mehta informed
him about the bumper crop & advised him to demand large share of the production
from Bawa Jitto.
Bir Singh Mehta found the advice of the officials most favorable for him and
ordered a new agreement. Bawa & Bir Singh Mehta under the new agreement Bawa had
to pay 3/4th of production as land revenue. Bawa did not agree to this decision
but Bir Singh Mehta was reluctant to it. He sent his men to Bawa to bring his
share. They demanded 3/4th of the production as land revenue but Bawa Jitto did
not succumb to his pressure. He tried to convince Bir Singh Mehta for raising a
good crop but Bir Singh Mehta did not agree his plea. In those days Feudal
system was prevelant. Generally, peasants as a social group were very loyal to
the landed aristocrats & governing class of the state. The social system of
ancient & medieval India did not permit the farmers & peasants to participate in
the decision making policies. So, Bir Singh Mehta dod mpt change his mind &
instead went himself with his men to the village. Where Bawa had heaped the
grains. Bir Singh adhered his men to take forcibely 3/4th of grains but Bawa
said he will not allow it do & will sacrifice himself on the heap of grains.
When Bawa found himself helpless against the onslaught of Bir Singh Mehta, he
decided to expose his injustice by presenting own sacrifice. The Bawa killed
himself with a sickle & his blood flowed on the grains. It is said that Bawa had
a daughter namely Kauri Bua, when she heared about the death of his father she
became dejected & depressed and declared his death as a socio-political
injustice. She cursed the feudal system. She decided to fight against the
injustice of Bir Mehta singh & killed herself to express her protest against the
social injustice.
The sacrifice of Bawa Jitto is considered by the majoriy of jammuties & adjacent
areas as struggle for the establishment of social justice in Jammu. A large
number of folk-songs (Karaks)are composed in his memory & is sung by the farmers
of the region to pay tribute to this great personality. He is famous as a
propagator of the dignity of labour & his sacrifice has become a source of
inspiration. The Samadhi of Bawa Jitto is built at Jhiri, which is treated as a
sacred place by the common people. Every year an annual function called “ Jhiri
Mela” is organized at Jhiri village to commemorate the sacrifice of Bawa Jitto
for the protection of social justice.Lakhs of people vist this Mela for which
administration is making elaborate arrangements. This year the Mela was a grand
success due to the tireless efforts of Mela Officer & SDM, Marh Sunita Sharma.
Proper arrangements of drinking water, Power, sanitation & transport were made
by the Mela Officer.To maintain law & order more than 500 police personnel &
SDRF teams were deployed. To pay attention towards the “ Swach Bharat Abhiyan”
800 toilets & 8 temporary bath rooms were constructed near the shrine to keep
the area clean. About 150 vehicles plied from bus stand daily to take the
devotees to the shrine. Besides, different stalls of Arts and crafts, exhibition
of hybrid fruits, flowers & vegetables, magic shows, circus, death well (Maut ka
kuaan) were the highlights of the mela. The aware ness camps organized by the
govt. departments was the attraction of the Mela. Sugarcane is cultivated in the
area in abudance & is sold here. People take it to their homes as parsad. People
pay floral tributes to this great leader at his Samadhi. The sacrifice of Bawa
Jitto is a lesson to rose against atrocities & injustice. It is a lesson not to
bow for our rights & struggle till the goal is not achieved.