Jhumur or Jhumar or Jhumair is a

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

of Sadanic language spoken by people of

Chota Nagpur plateau The Chota Nagpur Plateau is a plateau in eastern India, which covers much of Jharkhand state as well as adjacent parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Bihar. The Indo-Gangetic plain lies to the north and east of the plateau, and the bas ...

, primarily in

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . It ...

, southwestern region of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

and northern part of

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of ...

. Also in the Tea State of Assam due to emigration. Jhumar songs are sung in various social events (i.e. primarily in Karam, Tusu,

Bandna Bandna (spelt as Bāndnā, Hindi: बांदना) is a agriculture-oriented festival of the Kurmali ethnolinguistic and other related communities, in which domestic cattle and agriculture appliances are worshiped. The festival mostly observ ...

) by aboriginal communities like Kuṛmi, Oraon,

Chik Baraik Chik Baraik (also Chik, Chikwa, Baraik and Badaik) is a community found in Indian State of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha. They were traditionally Weaver. Etymology "Chik" means cloth in Prakrit. The title of "Baraik" was given to them by th ...

, Bagal, Bhumij, Rajwar, Munda.

Overview

The word Jhumar derived from ''

Jhum The traditional shifting cultivation farming technique of indigenous communities and Bengalis in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in Bangladesh and nearby regions in Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, and Nagaland in India is known as jhum cultivation. Tec ...

'' (Shifting cultivation), which is a regional name of the primitive way of cultivation by aboriginals in

eastern India East India is a region of India consisting of the Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal and also the union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The region roughly corresponds to the historical region of Magadha fr ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

. In earlier period, it was a form of shouting (locally known as ''Hawka/ Hanka'') by working women in the form of short lines describing their emotions in the agriculture field. In the influence of Hinduism the song is colored with religious Gods like

Radha Krishna Radha-Krishna (IAST , sa, राधा कृष्ण) are collectively known within Hinduism as the combined forms of feminine as well as the masculine realities of God. Krishna and Radha are the primeval forms of God and his pleasure potenc ...

Rama Rama (; ), Ram, Raman or Ramar, also known as Ramachandra (; , ), is a major deity in Hinduism. He is the seventh and one of the most popular '' avatars'' of Vishnu. In Rama-centric traditions of Hinduism, he is considered the Supreme Bein ...

Lakshmana Lakshmana ( sa, लक्ष्मण, lit=the fortunate one, translit=Lakṣmaṇa), also spelled as Laxmana, is the younger brother of Rama and his loyalist in the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. He bears the epithets of Saumitra () and Ramanuja (). ...

. The Jhumar songs vary depending upon the region of singer as the Jhumar culture comprises a vast region of east india. So other dominant languages are intermixed with the song, making different dialectical songs. However, the Jhumar songs are primarily formatted in Nagpuri,

Kurmali Kurmali or Kudmali (ISO: Kuṛmāli) is an Indo-Aryan language classified as belonging to the Bihari group of languages spoken in eastern India. As a trade dialect, it is also known as Panchpargania (Bengali: পঞ্চপরগনিয়� ...

and

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second m ...

but as Non Ariyan tribal groups also observe the Jhumar associated festivals, So they sing in synthesized form of their native language and Nagpuri/Kurmali/Bengali language. In general, Jhumar songs are classified into two broad group i.e. Traditional Jhumar and Modified Jhumar. Some example of Traditional Jhumar are Adivasi Jhumur, Kathi Jhumur, Nachni Jhumur and Darbari, Pala, Dand are the examples of Modified Jhumar. Adibasi, Bagalia, Baha, Bhaduria, Burihi, Chaitali, Dand, Darbari, Darsalia, Galoari, Jharkhandia, Jheta, Jhika, Jhikadang, Karam, Khatinach, Kurmali, Lagrey, Magha, Matoari, NachniNach, Pala, Pata, Raila, Riuja, Sadhu, Saharja, Tand, Thant and many more are the various disciplined Jhumar songs themed in Laukik Prem, Pouranik, Prahelika, Radha Krishna and Samajik.

Notable singer

Dulal Manki Dulal Manki is an Indian Assamese folk artist and musician. He is one of the traditional folk music artists from Tea-garden community of Assam. In 2021, the Government of India awarded him the Padma Shri for his contribution on music. Early life ...

, Jhumair singer from Assam * Indrani Mahato, Jhumar Singer from West Bengal *

Mahavir Nayak Mahavir Nayak (born 26 March 1942), is a nagpuri singer and songwriter. He is an exponent of Theth Nagpuri music, which is a genre of typical Nagpuri music, based on traditional Nagpuri folk music. He is the recipient of Sangeet Natak Akade ...

, Theth Nagpuri singer * Jhumur Akhter Riya, Bangladeshi singer

Overview

Notable singer

References

Further reading