11/03/2022
Denizens of Rajouri town gears up for historic week long "Holy Festival".
"Bhairon Jhanki" to be taken out on 11th of March in Rajouri city.
Sahil Sharma.
The celebrations of holi festival become so special for the denizens of Rajouri town owing to its uniqueness of "Bhairon Jhanki". Like every year during the festival of holi, the Jhanki of Bhairon dev is taken out with great pomp and religious fervour in which scores of people give their participation with full zeal and enthusiasm irrespective of caste, age and religion. Similarly, the first Jhanki of this year would be taken out on 10th of march on Thursday.
During this festive season of holi, it was decided in a joint meeting between Rajouri city Bhairo committee & Jawahar Nagar Bhairo committee that, the first Jhanki would be taken out on 10th and again on 12th, 14th, 17th of March in Jawahar nagar. Likewise, on, 11th,13th,16th of march it would be taken out in Rajouri city and finally on 18th of march at Jawahar in the morning and then after 2.00 P.M it would be started in Rajouri city.
"The historic holi festival will start from 10th of this month. And the only point of attraction in the week long festival is the dance of Bhairon dev in which large numbers of locals do participate to enjoy such uniqueness of Rajouri town. And it also depicts the feeling of oneness among different communities across the town. "We are eagerly waiting for the upcoming jhanki and this is the only festival in which we enjoy our best with our friends. This jhanki has maintained the old age tradition of maintaining peace, communal harmony and brotherhood in Rajouri for a long time", added Mr.Anil and Faizan.
Acc.to the locals, it is believed that about hundred years ago, this area was hit by famine. The people of the area were facing starvation. The locals then went to a Sadhu living in the nearby jungle. He told them to make Bhairon Dev happy and take out his jhanki around the city. After that everything will be alright. It is said that things started improving with this act and since then every year such procession is now taken out in this area for the last many decades.
The Jhanki would be started from tehsil area near Sanatan Dharam Sabha Mandir and pass through main bazar, city chowk to bus stand area where the Bhairon dev perform different styles of dance steps on drum beats for some time and then finally culminated at Bhairon mandir near naban area Rajouri. The Jhanki would be accompanied by dhol beaters along with the locals.
When contacted, Mr.Vivek Shekhar, ASP, Rajouri told The News Now that all necessary and adequate security arrangements will be put in place for smooth conduct and for that all agencies are tied up for the overall vigilance around the town and in this regard CCTV cameras have also been installed at prime locations around the vicinity. He also appealed to the locals to cooperate with the authorities to maintain peace in the town.
