Jhijhiya, the Pot Dance of Mithila, and the Stories Behind It

Every autumn in Mithila, after dark, groups of women carry clay pots on their heads. The pots are pierced with small holes, and a lamp burns inside each one, so the light comes out in dots. The women move in slow circles and sing. They do it evening after evening, from the first day of Dashain to the tenth. The dance is called Jhijhiya.

Most of what is written about Jhijhiya agrees on the pot, the lamp and the goddess. Very little agrees on where it began. Wikipedia's entry says there is no exact authority about the origin of the dance, the legend that explains it is told in different ways, and the sources give two different reasons for dancing it. This article sets out what they say, where they disagree, and what is happening to the dance now.

Names and spellings. You will also see Jhijhiya written Jhijiya, Jhijhian and Jhijhari. In Devanagari it is झिझिया.

The dance in short

Where: Mithila, the cultural region that runs across northern Bihar in India and the eastern Terai of Nepal. Most of the recent reporting comes from Janakpurdham, in Dhanusha district, Nepal.

Who: Women and girls, usually in groups of five to fifteen. Wikipedia names the Musahar community as its main performers (more on that below).

When: In the evenings from Ghatasthapana, the first day of Dashain, to Bijaya Dashami, the tenth. Dashain is known as Navratri and Dussehra on the Indian side. The researcher Monica Mottin writes that the dance runs for eight to twelve nights, depending on the lunar calendar.

For whom: The goddess Durga, in her form as Durga Bhairavi. The songs also ask for protection from witches and dark magic.

_{A dancer with a decorated clay pot on her head. Photo: eXploration Etoile / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0}

The pot and the lamp

_{Two clay pots pierced with small holes, of the kind used for the dance. Photo: eXploration Etoile / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0}

Many holes are pierced in a clay pot. A lamp is lit inside it, and the dancer balances the pot on her head. The holes let the light through, so each pot glows like a lantern.

Two explanations of the holes circulate. Nepal Traveller says they stand for the eyes of demons, blinded by the light of the lamps inside. Wikipedia records a belief that if a witch manages to count the holes in a dancer's pot, the dancer dies at once. In both, the pot is protection. Razz Kumari Das, a dancer interviewed by the Kathmandu Post, said that women who perform Jhijhiya are believed to shield themselves and their loved ones from negativity.

Worth knowing: accounts differ on how the pots are used. Most descriptions, and the photographs here, show every dancer with her own pot. A Hindi reference page, Bharat Discovery, describes one main dancer in the middle of a circle, with a pot on her head and a lamp burning on its lid, while the other women dance around her and sing. We found no source that gives a number of holes.

Who dances, and why it matters

Wikipedia says Jhijhiya is performed mainly by the Musahar community. The Musahar are a Dalit community of the eastern Gangetic plain and the Terai, and sources describe them as one of the most disadvantaged groups in both Bihar and Nepal. Many work as landless farm labourers. Record Nepal puts their combined population in Nepal and Bihar at about two and a half million.

Not every source narrows it to one community. One describes Jhijhiya as a dance of Maithil communities in general, and another says it is performed by specific castes during Dashain. The sources do not settle who "owns" the dance.

What they do agree on is what it has meant for the women who dance it. A 2019 Kathmandu Post report from Janakpur is headlined "a traditional Mithila folk dance is helping shape women's identities". It says the dance has helped Musahar women economically and in how they see themselves, and quotes a dancer who calls it more than a dance: a form of expression, and a way to take part in conversations with other communities.

The songs and the music

Wikipedia describes two kinds of Jhijhiya song. One praises the goddess. The other is sung for protection against witches and dark magic. Men typically play the music, according to the Kathmandu Post: the jhamar, the dhol and the jhaeel. Wikipedia lists the dhol and the manjira.

The songs also call on Brahma Baba. Wikipedia's entry gives one verse with a translation, and in essence it is an invitation asking him to join the dance. Brahma Baba, also called Brahm Baba, Gram Devta or Dihawar Baba, is a village protector deity. We have not reproduced any lyrics here, and the English translation Wikipedia gives is a single rendering, so treat it as one reading.

The legend of Chitrasen and Balruchi

The legend most often tied to the dance goes like this, in the version Wikipedia gives.

A king named Chitrasen had a queen who was an expert in dark arts. His nephew Balruchi was to be his heir. The queen became infatuated with Balruchi. She pretended to be ill and demanded his blood as the cure. The king's soldiers could not bring themselves to kill the young man. They freed him in the forest and brought back the blood of a deer instead. The queen bathed in it and recovered. Balruchi was taken in by an old woman who lived in the forest.

Here the versions part.

In the account in a research article on the dance in Janakpur, the soldiers bring back the blood of a mongoose, not a deer, and the old woman teaches Balruchi magic and sorcery. The king later recognises Balruchi through a song that only the two of them knew. When the old woman learns that Balruchi has left, she turns black magic on the king and queen. The queen answers it, and the battle of magic ends in her victory. But the king dies, and the throne passes to Balruchi. The queen then performs the Jhijhiya ritual for his wellbeing.

A gentler version on the blog The Invisible Narad has the queen ask Balruchi's forgiveness when they return to the palace. Balruchi is named the successor, and the queen brings in the protective tantric rituals. Bharat Discovery says the songs of the dance are built on episodes from the story of King Chitrasen and his queen.

Worth knowing: this is oral tradition. The research article notes that scholars and practitioners still disagree on details, and we found no source that dates Chitrasen or says where he ruled. Read it as folklore.

Durga, or rain?

Wikipedia, the Kathmandu Post and the Janakpur research all describe Jhijhiya as devotion to Durga, and Wikipedia and the Post add protection against witches or negativity. Other sources describe a prayer for rain. A University of Hong Kong course archive page says the dance is part of a ritual to please the rain god Indra, and that its songs carry a prayer for rain. A page on the website of Siwan district in Bihar also says the dance pleases the god of rain, Indra.

The two readings need not be rivals. Dashain falls at the end of the monsoon, and both are prayers for protection and a good year. That is our reading, not a claim from a source. We found no source that settles which came first.

Janakpur: from near-extinction to heritage

_{The Janaki Mandir in Janakpur on the evening of the third day of Dashain, 9 October 2021. This is the temple, not a performance. Photo: Tulsi Bhagat / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0}

A research article on Janakpurdham, based on fieldwork in Dhanusha district between 2022 and 2024, says Jhijhiya declined over the last decades and was dying out in some villages. Madhumala, a dancer interviewed by the Kathmandu Post in 2021, says people stopped practising it during the decade-long Maoist insurgency.

The same article describes a revival that began in 2018. Urban youth and cultural organisations started holding public events that brought together Jhijhiya teams from nearby villages and urban cultural groups. Around the same time, a grassroots organisation worked with women from marginalised communities to revive the dance in their villages, and gave them a stage in Janakpurdham. New teams formed in the town and the villages. The dance is now also performed as a folk dance outside Dashain.

The author concludes that what Jhijhiya is, and how it should be practised, remains contested. But the shift from ritual to heritage has revitalised a dance once thought close to extinction.

Is the beat fading?

A recent Nepal News report, "Fading beat of Jhijhiya", is less hopeful. It says the dance is losing its original songs and style, and that its appeal among young people is declining. Bimala Devi, who has danced Jhijhiya for 14 years, says it has become hard to find women who can sing the traditional songs. About ten years ago, she says, the dance was staged in many places in Janakpurdham. Now young people are less willing to learn it. A Nepal-focused article in the arts journal ShodhKosh also describes the dance as at risk from modernisation, urbanisation and changing social norms.

These reports do not contradict the revival. A dance can gain stages and teams and lose its songs at the same time. That is our reading. How much of the village ritual survives on a stage is exactly what the Janakpur research calls contested.

What the sources have in common. Under every version there is the same picture: a lamp inside a pot, a circle of women, a goddess or a village guardian called by name, and a song meant to keep harm away. Whether it began as a queen's charm, a prayer for rain or a way to protect a family's children, the dance has lasted because people kept performing it.

If you want to see it.

Dashain is the season. The dance is performed in the evenings from Ghatasthapana to Bijaya Dashami, and the dates move each year with the lunar calendar. Outside Dashain it is mostly seen as a staged folk dance at cultural events.
In Nepal, Janakpurdham and the villages around it in Dhanusha district are where the recent reporting and revival events are. On the Indian side, Jhijhiya is listed among the folk dances of Bihar, but we found no source naming particular places.
Ask before you photograph. The dancers are women and girls taking part in a ritual, and many come from communities that have long been left out. Ask the group first, and offer to share the pictures.
Stand back and let the dance run its course. It is a prayer before it is a performance.

Frequently asked questions

What is Jhijhiya? A women's folk dance of the Mithila region of India and Nepal. Dancers carry clay pots with lit lamps inside on their heads, in the evenings of Dashain (also called Navratri or Dussehra).

Why do the dancers carry pots with holes? The lit pot is meant to protect the dancer and her family from witches and harm. One account says the holes stand for the eyes of demons, blinded by the lamps. Another says that if a witch counts the holes, the dancer dies.

Who performs Jhijhiya? Women and girls, usually in groups of five to fifteen. Wikipedia names the Musahar community as its main performers. Other sources describe it as a dance of Maithil communities more widely.

Is the story of King Chitrasen true? It is a folk legend passed on by word of mouth. We found no source that dates it, and the versions differ.

Is Jhijhiya Indian or Nepali? Both. It belongs to Mithila, which spans Bihar in India and the Terai of Nepal. Sources describe it in both countries, and it is listed among the folk dances of Bihar.

Have you danced Jhijhiya, or watched it in your village? Tell us how it is done where you live through the Contact page.

Photo credits. All photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons licences. Click each to see its page and licence. Groups of women performing Jhijhiya (eXploration Etoile, CC BY 2.0) · Women performing Jhijhiya (eXploration Etoile, CC BY 2.0) · The clay pot used to perform Jhijhiya (eXploration Etoile, CC BY 2.0) · Janaki Mandir, Janakpur (Tulsi Bhagat, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources. This article draws on published reporting, research and reference pages. Details differ between sources.