Dr. Ramdayal Rakesh
General Background
Jhijhiya is a folkdance annually performed by the people of Mithila region at the festival of light, lit with nine hundred thousand stars. People have been celebrating this fetival in the evening time, in the dim light of the moon, since the beginning of creation. It is celebrated with high excitement and enjoyment from the new moon day of the month of Aswin or from the first day of Dashain festival. The dance begins with holy hymns in front of every house in Mithila Region. That particular night—the indicator of the beginning of the autumn season or the first month—is regarded as a sacred night. It ends on the tenth day of the fortnight or on the night of Dashami – the tenth day after the full moon. In some places, it ends on the ninth night.
When the moonlight falls on the entire landscape, crops seem to be growing faster, and paddy plants seem to be dancing; women, especially the unmarried girls start dancing on the streets in their own villages. Their dance is highly appreciated everywhere. They are not trained, but surprisingly, when they dance, it looks as if they are highly trained. They do not take any training in any school, but their dance is wonderfully attractive.
In early days, not all the girls used to take part. Only girls from a particular community used to take part. But now it has become so popular that most of the girls take part in this dance these days. Its popularity can be ascertained by the fact that UNESCO has recognized it, and hence, categorized it as folkdance.
A group of girls takes part in this dance, as it is a group folkdance. The girls carry earthen pots with a hole each and a lighted candle inside on their heads from one house to another. They move on singing and dancing, from house to house. They also ask for oil to be used in the earthen lamps. There is no class discrimination because all the girls, whether from rich or poor families, take part and therefore, it is a fully democratic folkdance. They keep singing religious hymns for their goddesses and even scold the witches and scare them.
In this folkdance, the impact of black magic and mantras can also be easily seen. The impact of black magic and mantras has been apparent in Mithila community for ages, and thus the folkdance is also affected by it. Witches go to the graveyards to practice their black magic and get perfection in it in the dark night. So to discourage the witches, the participants of Jhijhiya dance go from one village to another to humiliate and disregard them. It also has a message that we should move towards brightness from darkness. The dance, indicating and conveying the message to move away from darkness towards brightness in every village of the Mithila region for a better life, is gaining high popularity day by day. ‘Anhari raat Jhijhiya’ they say, indicating that Jhijhiya is a performance of the dark night. In this way, the girls from the every village in Mithila region come out in the moonlight and start dancing with nature to its tune. Jhijhiya is, therefore, a concrete model of folkdance in the Maithili community.
Early Preparation
The earthen pots are prepared before Dashain begins. There are hundreds of holes in a pot. An earthen lamp is kept in the middle of the pot. Twinkling lamps are lit inside the pot in cooking oil. The girls carry a pot each on their heads. They dance with the pots on their heads in full balance. They are so proficient that the pots stay on their head in complete balance and do not fall, though the dance takes place only once in a year, round-the-year practice doesn’t come forth. Even an expert dancer can be bewildered to see the dance.
While the girls are dancing, the intricate balance of their legs can easily be seen. Even without any formal training and direction, their dance and song can be highly praiseworthy. They spend the whole night singing and dancing in the village, asking at times for oil for the lamps from the rich people to keep it burning. The lamps in the colorful pots apear highly attractive. Jhijhiya cannot be explained in an ordinary way due to the sublime beauty of the light that can even supersede the rainbow. The audience is enchanted by the beautiful scene.
Rationale
The main purpose of Jhijhiya is to entertain people. The utmost intention of the dance is to make the farmers feel relaxed, as they are tired of farming and they need some fun. All the villagers like the dance due to its unique attraction and so, it becomes a center of entertainment. Due to the lack of other means of entertainment in the village, Jhijhiya is gaining popularity day by day.
Another purpose of this dance is to scold and humiliate the witches. As the witches practice their black magic during the time of Dashain and use it, the wish of the dancers is to create obstacles to the witches and not to let them use it. Though it is against human right to scold anyone indicating to be a witch as there is no any way to justify anyone to be a witch, the girls go on visiting house-to-house scolding prospective witches. In Jhijhiya sung on the streets and footpaths as well, one can find similar libels against witchcraft. Even the scorning words being used against the witches are considered fascinating by the audience, though semantically, they are quite hurting and insulting.
Mythology
There is no authority that can claim when Jhijhiya actually started, but it is getting popularity day by day. Detailed studies and researches have become quite essential for Jhijhiya. The psychological and entertaining aspect will remain ever memorable and ever new in Mithila Region. In the folk literature of Mithila, the tune of Jhijhiya has remained dominant for centuries.
A Myth associated with the dance goes like this: Once there was a king named Chitrasen in Mithila Region. His wife was an expert in black magic. As the king had no children, he loved his nephew Balruchi a lot and wanted to make him the crown prince of the state. But Chitrasen’s matured wife loved Balruchi more than her husband, the king. Eventually one day, the queen urged Balruchi for sex with her, but he instantly rejected. The queen grew very angry and embarked on taking revenge. So, she went inside her chamber, and slept, feigning to be seriously ill.
All got tired and panicked. The worried king sent for an Ayurvedic physician. The queen, pretending to be sick, expressed her last wish that if she was bathed in the blood of Balruchi, she would be fine. The king found himself in dilemma. The henpecked king ordered the armies to kill Balruchi and bring his liver in blood to make his wife, the queen, happy. The armies loved Balruchi. So they left Balruchi in a deep forest and came back with the blood and liver of a wolf. The queen was restored to health and peace, but the king was sad.
On the other hand, Balruchi was bewildered with hunger and thirst. He saw a slum in the middle of the forest. An old woman—the owner of a hut in the slum—was an expert in black magic. She felt for the boy on listening to his story. She then made the boy an expert in black magic too.
One day, the king was going to his father-in-law’s house through the same forest. Suddenly, a palanquin carrier died on the way. The king ordered to search for another man. Eventually they found a young boy, and he was offered the job.
On the way, the king, out of habit, sang indistinctly but while singing, he often forgot the former lines. The new boy, carrying the palanquin, reminded the lines to the king. The king was surprised. He knew that the song could be sung only by Balruchi. The king instantly recognized him and told him to come home back.
As his wicked wife came to know about it, she began to throw black magic upon the king and the queen. On the other hand, Balruchi too had learnt such art in the forest. So, both of them began to throw black magic on one another. The black magic led to the death of the king. Eventually the queen accepted her defeat, and began to live her life giving the throne to Balruchi.
Knowing that witchcraft and black magic was destructive, the queen began to perform rituals of Jhijhiya every year for the deafeat of the witch’s black magic and for successful tenure of Balruchi as the king. Gradually Jhijhiya took the form of a culture. Today in the electronic and scientific era as well, Jhijhiya is popular, but some electronic media are defaming the popularity of the dance day by day. It is a good thing that the UNESCO is trying to conserve this rare and intangible culture as far as possible.
In Jhijhiya dance, an earthen-lamp is put in a holed pot that symbolizes the Goddess. This dance is performed from the first new moon of Ashwin (September) up to the ninth night following it. It is performed in a particular place but no stage is required. The ninth night matters to the witches. They are believed to make the most powerful use of their on black magic and mantras on this night. They learn all the tricks like that of killing, sickening, generation destroying and so on, and use them on other people. The extinguishing of the lamp or breaking of the pot is taken symbolically.
At first the dancers go to the shrine of Brahma and Bhagavati, singing devotional songs. Theyalso take this shrine as the shrine of Yama, the god of death. They start singing and dancing Jhijhiya, after they get blessed in the sacred place. Here is a sample of a popular song:
Tohare bharose mai re, jhijhiya banaili
Mai he, ihihiya par, hoiau sahaye.
[At your mercy we observe Jhijhiya, o! Mother
Please be with us in Jhijhiya o! Mother]
In some places the song is sung like this:
Tohare bharose Brahmababa, Jhijhari banailo
Jhijhari par hoinyoun asawar.
[At your mercy, we observe Jhijhiya, Father Brahma!
Please come and be a part of it.]
After this invocation, the singers and dancers wish good luck for all the family and relatives with the help of the lines below:
Sato Kebadiya ho Bhrama Baba sato he Kebad
Kholu ne Kebadiya ho Brahma baba bhaye gela saath
[O Brahama, the father! Open all the doors
Oh! God, it’s evening, open all the doors!]
Immediately after, the girls move, making a circle around the village. They start another song just after the end of one song. There are various types of songs sung during the dance. With the help of the song and dance, the whole village life is commemorated.
Jara-a jara-a teji se laik aage Jhihiya
Teliya maiyake kotuhuwa me top aa ge Jhijhiya
Dainiya joginiya ghumela gali galiya
Tohu ohi gali me chamak… aa ge Jhijhiya
[Burn and burn brightly with fire, Jhijhiya
Be a canon, and fall on the abode of Teliya
Witches and sorceresses move along streets
You come and blaze the streets, of Jhijhiya! ]
The words and tunes of Jhijhiya songs always vibrate in the yard of Mithila. It naturally draws our attention to the prime time of Dashain. A Jhijhiya song sung scolding the witches is as follows:
Itawa pathaile jainiya kathena udhaile ge
Khidki lagoule nawarangiya ge
Khidki mahe take barguniya
Jhijhiya par wan na chalehai ge
Khaikhe ta khoge dainiya apan petwa
hamaro bhaiyake bachaihe ge
khewai ta khoge dainiya apan bhatara
hamaro bhaiyake bachaihe ge.
[Bricks have been made and wood has been raised
The window in nine colors is closed
The witch peeps through the window.
Don’t cast your spell on Jhijhiya ;
Kill your own son with your spell
But leave my brother alive
You can kill your own husband
But spare my dear brother.]
It means the witch has made her house with bricks. She has put even the window in her house. The window has been colored very well. The powerful witch looks through the window. The girls tell the witch not to cast her spell over Jhijhiya. They tell her, “If you want to kill anyone with your spell, kill your own son but save our brothers. If you want to kill anyone, go and kill your own husband but save our brothers.”
Dr. Pushpam Narayan, an Indian scholar has made the following remark about Jhijhiya:
In rural areas, there is a strong belief that the witches come out during the eighth night and cast black spell over some people like small children, pregnant women, young men, the house-owners and newlywed brides. The witches think human sacrifice to be essential for bolstering their power. In the beginning of this ritual, a witch is even ready to sacrifice her husband and her son as well. This sacrifice is taken as a gift by the witches to their deities. The women singing and dancing Jhijhiya, become highly conscious on the eighth night and visit very house singing and dancing, and visit as many places as they can so that the witches wouldn’t be able to spell any black magic upon anyone. They dance and sing irritating songs for the witches in the following way:
Chal chal ge daini Brahma tara
Tora betawa ke khaibe kadam tara
Daini ke beta marala parala, anhar raati Jhihiya
Asagara Daini Kilale, anhara raati Jhijhiya
Kebho nahi ghar se nikalya, anhara raati Jhijhiya
Ke o nahi daini beta ke dadabaiya, anhara Jhijhiya
[Dr. Pushpam Narayan ‘Aurat’, Issue 10, Jan-Sept, 2006]
[Go, go, you the witch, go beyond the world
Go under the Kadam tree, and devour your own son
Your son will die, on this night of Jhijhiya
You the witch will lose power, on this night of Jhijhiya
Why don’t you, o witch, come out of home on this night of Jhijhiya?
Why don’t you eat your son, on this night of Jhijhiya?]
It is believed that the witches do not spare their husbands; nor do they spare their own sons as well, but they love their sons-in-law more. So, they don’t hurt their sons-in-law.
People make different types of sketches in their houses to nullify the spells of the witches. They hang garlic, lemon and chili at the entrance of the houses. They apply black lines around the eyes of their infant children so that the witches would not be able to hurt them.
The auspicious dance, Jhijhiya, is very sensitively presented. The girls dance very rapidly so that the witches wouldn’t be able to count the holes in the pot. Otherwise that can be a bad thing for the occasion. After dancing all night, the pot is covered in red cloth and kept at a corner in the family shrine. The next evening, the pot is taken out along with the burning lamp. On the tenth day, those pots are taken to any pond and destroyed with complete rituals so that there would be no bad luck of any kind. After the destruction of the pot, they wait for the next year. In Dr. Rajendra Bimal’s words Jhijhiya pot has symbolic meanings:
Like Ahibatak Patil, the pot of Jhijhiya too has a symbolic meaning. The earthen pot or the soul in the earthen pot burning continuously and giving light from every hole indicates a complete body. Asking oil from every house refers to giving life to the souls with the help of every member of the society, which is essential.
(Mithila ko Itihas, Sanskriti ra Kalaparampara, page 264)
Besides Jhijhiya, there are some other dances highly popular in Mithila Region. For example: Kirtaniya, Ramleela Nach, Krishna Leela Nach, Jhumar, Bhagata Nach, Jatjatin, Sama Chakhewa, Kathputali, Natuwa, Damfu Basuli, Salhes, Pamariya, Pachaniya, Khajan-Chiraiya, Chanchada and Bidayat Nach etc. Culture experts have divided these dances into various categories: religious dance, social dance, communal dance and seasonal dance.
References:
Bimal, Rajendra Prasad. Mithilako Itihas, Sanskriti ra Kalaparampara. Kathmandu: Himalaya Book Stall, 2062.
Rakesh, Ram Dayal. Maithili Sanksriti. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy, 2061.
—. Maithili Loksanskriti. Kathmandu: Ekta Books, 2061.
Aurat, Vol. 10. January-September 2
[Ram Dayal Rakesh, PhD, is a professor of Hindi, who retired from Tribhuvan University. A folklorist, writer, critic and translator of high repute, he is also the winner of the prestigious Fukuoka Prize from Japan. He is also the former Chief of the Department of Culture at Nepal Academy.]