Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Nov 6: Lakhs of people from several northern states of the country and nook and corners of Jammu and Kashmir today thronged the pious shrine of Bawa Jitto at village Jhiri and paid obeisance to Bawa Jitto and participated in the historic 8-day annual fair, falling on the sacred day of Kartik Purnima.
Over three lakh people today took ‘holy dip’ in the Pacca Talab popularly known as ‘Bawe Da Talab’ and then paid obeisance to Bawa Jitto’s Samadhi Sathal, which now has taken form of a huge temple.
Since midnight, the devotees started visiting the shrine. Standing in long queues the people were seen waiting for their turn to take darshan of Bawa Jitto.
The Jhiri Mela is organized every year on Kartik Purnima to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of a hard working farmer who preferred to kill himself instead of giving up to the unjust demands of a local landlord.
About 550 years ago, Bawa Jitto, a farm less farmer originally belonging to Aghar Jitto near Katra accompanied by his 9-years old daughter took shelter in the house of a friend in Shamachak, near Jhiri, where with the efforts of his friend, he was granted a piece of barren land by a local landlord in Shamachak and one fourth of the produce is fixed as land revenue.
With his hard work, Bawa Jitto turned the barren land into prolific treasure and this made the greedy landlord to back out on his word and he demanded major share of the crop from Bawa Jitto. Unable to endure injustice, helpless Jitto killed himself. The agony became boundless when Gauri, his little daughter also immolated herself on her father’s pyre.
Every year, people from various parts of northern States of the country, whose ancestors have taken share of that crop produced by Bawa Jitto, take bath and offer prayers of regret.
The ‘Mela’ was formally inaugurated by Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Shantmanu, who was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, AK Sahu, SDM Marh, Sunaina Mehta and many other dignitaries.
The main attraction of the fair was exhibition of art and crafts, hybrid fruits, vegetables and awareness camps organized by various departments including Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, Sericulture, Rural Development, Handicrafts, Insurance Companies, etc. As the Assembly elections are due in the State, a voters’ awareness camp was also organized by Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (Ministry of Information and Broadcasting), Government of India.
Hundreds of stalls, shops and kiosks selling sweets, pakoras, bangles, pottery, clothes, crockery, souvenirs, toys, books and CDs on Bawa Jitto, sports items like cricket bats, hockey sticks, footballs, farming tools, sugarcane juice witnessed huge rush of customers.
The entertainment stalls, merry-go-rounds, circus and slides and ‘Maut Ka Kuaan’ were the source of attraction. The langars were organized by various biradries. Besides, a first aid and medical camp was also organized by Indian System of Medicines (ISM), Jammu.
The district administration has made elaborate arrangements for the smooth conduct of the fair. Elaborating on the arrangements, Mela Officer, Sunaina Sharma, SDM Marh, said about 500 police personnel were deployed to tackle with any law and order problem. Besides, a team of State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was also called to tackle any untoward incident.
She said that to ensure free flow of pilgrims, the shops were put up at a distance from the main shrine and the special emphasis was given this year on sanitation and cleanliness. For this 180 toilets were made functional in the whole area right from Bawe Talab to Bawa Jitto Shrine. Besides, 8 temporary bathrooms were established at main shrine while four at Bawe Talab, she said, adding the shopkeepers and langar organizers were issued special instructions to maintain cleanliness and erect dustbins near their shops.
“Urban Local Bodies and Municipal bodies also played a major role in maintaining cleanliness. The elaborate arrangements were also made for water, transport and electric supply”, she said adding about 150 buses were catering to and fro for the people thronging the shrine from Jammu Bus Stand.
She said about 5 lakh people attended the fair till this evening while over 3.5 lakh paid obeisance at Bawa Jitto shrine and the crowd is expected to increase tomorrow.
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