Part 24 - References of Lord Jhulelal found in Government Gazetteers of Sindh

Some opinions have been noted by the researcher which have expressed a view that Lord Jhulelal's celebration in India in general or more by Sindhi Community in India have gained a momentum and have become more popular after 1947, the partition year. Lord Jhulelal has been a popular deity for more than a thousand years and is being worshiped by Sindhis along with Lohanas, Bhatiyas and Daryapanthis.

Therefore the 'after 1947' view does not go well. The researcher is of the firm opinion that Lord Jhulelal's worship and celebrations are an age-old phenomenon and till date, he continues to be an 'Ishtadeva' or principal deity for his followers.

The rituals of worship and especially celebration part for a deity may undergo many changes along with the time. The scale or magnitude of people participating may also change through the years. This is explained below with some examples.

Cheti Chand is a festival of entire Sindhi community with participation from all strata of society. Similarly, the Ganesh Festival in Maharashtra is celebrated by people from all strata of society across the state and in many parts of India.

The Ganesh festival was started by the veteran leader and freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak in 1893 A.D. during the time India was under British rule. The purpose of the festival was to educate people and make them aware of foreign rule over our country and awaken them to offer resistance against Britishers. There were 'Skits' (short drama pieces) specially written for this purpose and performed on streets and stage to bring about the awareness towards the rule of injustice and suppression by British Government. The songs, popularly known as Povada^[1] in Marathi, which are sung in praise of ancestors for their brave fight and gallantry against enemies of the nation during Ganesh festivals. These and such other acts which combine awakening of people coupled with entertainment were the main parts of such celebrations along with the ritual Aarti of the Ganesh idol. The nature of the celebration was more like a carnival or fair or what is known as Mela^[2] in Marathi. This creates an opportunity for the people to come together meet each other, talk about the current affairs and the situation through which the nation was going.

Along with the time the nature of celebrations underwent a change, sometimes gradually and sometimes in a major way. In post-independence era, the themes of Ganesh Festival started changing. The popular ones include various events during the freedom struggle, subsequently, the themes adapted to the changing times and picked up the current issues related to the social life of citizens of India. Some could be mentioned as India becomes Republic, national leaders as heroes, China and Pakistan wars of 1962 and 1965, India undergoing a change and emerging as a young nation in Indian sub-continent and industrial progress of the nation etc.

With the progress achieved by India on various fronts, the themes went changing year after year incorporating and depicting them for the benefit of the people. With the improvements in the lifestyle of the citizens of India after independence, increased the income of middle class and increase in the collection of funds for such celebrations, the nature of the festival underwent a substantial change.

In the recent years, advancement in technology brought 'high tech' concept to the celebrations, which added special light and sound effects. Lately, the themes that are in vogue are religious, mythological and to some extent political, mounted on huge platforms, sometimes even a moving stage platform aided by stroboscopic lights and huge size speakers.

One can visualise a great change that has taken place in last one hundred years in the nature of celebration of 'Ganesh Festival' of Maharashtra. With the increasing population, ease of commuting, practically everyone having own vehicle even to cover a large distance to travel to participate and view the favorite scenes of the festival, there is a tremendous change in the situation.

Today's celebration is on such large scale and magnitude that it can be called as 'Mega' celebration and the celebration before pre-independence era and from the earlier post-independence era might appear small when compared. The population of India has increased multifold after independence, e.g.

▪ Year 1921 A.D.: 318,942,480,
▪ Year 1951 A.D.: 361,088,090,
▪ Year1961 A.D.: 438,936,918,
▪ Year 2001 A.D.: 1028,737,436, ▪ Year 2011 A.D.: 1210,193,422.
(Census figures are from censusindia.gov.in and Press Information Bureau, Govt. of India).

Thus, there is a 400% increase in the number of people in the country in the last 9 decades which would naturally result in an increase in a large number of people participating.

However, looking at above details would it be proper to say that Ganesh festival or Jhulelal festival (Cheti Chand) ‘picked up’ post-independence or post seventh or eighth decade of the twentieth century, naturally not.

Similar would be the case with 'Navaratri Festival' which is a favorite celebration in Gujarat and neighboring state of Maharashtra. This festival has a reputation of being celebrated not just a few decades, but many centuries. The 'Garba'^[3] dance which is very popular with today's youth has gone through a great transformation during the last two or three decades. Earlier the dancing steps of 'Garba' were performed on the traditional 'Garba songs' which are a kind of traditional folk songs of Gujarat. However, these days the Hindi film songs (Bollywood film songs) have almost replaced the original and traditional 'Garba songs', and the use of wooden sticks called Dandiya is also optional in contrast to earlier times as clapping is more popular during dancing steps.

The dressing up of participants, though traditional still has a modern look with blend and variations of exotic colours, the high-tech light and sound systems and the mammoth crowd that gathers in the grounds in Metro cities of Gujarat and Maharashtra like Ahmadabad, Vadodara, Surat and Mumbai are a treat to watch.

From above details, taking a note of the huge participation of youth, which is a result of many factors combined together one can say that the nature of celebration has changed, but it would be improper to say that the Navaratri celebration picked up momentum after a certain period.

In the same manner, some more examples could be quoted wherein the celebrations are done with greater enthusiasm in recent times, but that does not in any way demean or reduce the importance of celebrations of earlier times.

Accordingly, the researcher feels that the celebration of Lord Jhulelal has been an age-old tradition and there is no such period or date where form it was promoted, or it picked up momentum. The researcher firmly believes that there is no such 'promotion' factor found anywhere, but Lord Jhulelal's popularity has been unbroken for centuries together and celebrations are a part of the revered place that exists for him in the hearts of Sindhi and Lohana community.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

A ballad composed to describe historical events and great acts of bravery and valour

[2]:

A fair or a religious Hindu festival

[3]:

A traditional Gujarati folk dance or song