Jat-Jatra

Understand

Where Jat-Jatra comes from

Jat-Jatra is the cycle of folk-dance forms of the Mithila region of north Bihar, performed as part of the all-night folk-dance-drama cycle that is a major annual entertainment of the region. The form is most strongly associated with the Kishanganj district and the Mathaura fair (the great March-April market at Narkatiagunj / Mathaura Ganj in West Champaran / Narkatiagunj of the Tirhut region), where the trader-grandson of the Mithila raja gives the Jat-Jatra festival annually. The dance cycle typically begins with the brief Phag dance, then the Bichhua, then the Ghatwar, then the Bhilwa, concluding with the Dalkariya in the morning. Each form lasts a specific number of minutes, with the full cycle (sometimes five or more hours) performed by hereditary men's troupes. The dance-drama tradition mixes folk-dance with a Shiv-Parvati narrative frame and is documented in the folk-arts surveys of the Bihar Heritage Trust.

How it's practiced

Jat-Jatra is performed by a troupe of adult male dancers (suitable performers drawn from the hereditary folk-dance communities of the Mithila region) and an accompanying troupe of musicians on the dhol, the madal and the shehnai. Each of the sub-dances has its own tempo, costume and gesture — Phag is a brief opening dance with a fast foot-step pattern, Bichhua adds a slightly erotic crossing-movement dance, Ghatwar is the slow-skirted circle dance of the women character (played by men), Bhilwa is the sword-play sequence, and the dawn Dalkariya rounds off the cycle. The dance-drama is performed at the Mathaura gundhri (the annual fair of Mithila), at village weddings and at the evening of festivals. Costume is the regional Mithila dress — the colourful dhoti and kurta for men and the character-played women in full-skirted silver-studded attire.