The Undocumented and Unidentified Riparian Community named Jetor

Dublin Core

Title

The Undocumented and Unidentified Riparian Community named Jetor

Subject

Endangered Folk Cultural Heritage of the Jetors

Description

The Jetors comprise a community living incognito on the edges of the rivers, Kangsabati and Subarnarekha. They find no mention in the government documents but their "presence" in the district of Paschim Midnapore and Jhargram is a palpable reality. Before Dr Debdas Roy embarked on his exploration regarding the cultural specificities of the Jetor community under the aegis of ICSSR, the only scholar to have engaged with the aforementioned community is Dr Nirmalendu De who worked under the worthy supervision of Professor Tushar Chattopadhyay of the University of Calcutta. It is high time to lend visibility to this hitherto neglected community upon whom centuries of indignities and humiliation lie heaped.

Disclaimer: The denomination "Jetor" has been borrowed from a section of the elderly persons of the Jetor community and also from Dr Nirmalendu De, my predecessor in the field of research about Jetor community.

Creator

ICSSR Minor Research Project 2023-24

Source

Gomuriapal, Banstala, Sarpal, Budra, Paharipara, Bhatpara, Dherua, Sankhakhula, Wallipur, Madanmohanchowk, Rupnarayanpur, Bhasra, Goaldanga and some other villages located on the banks of the rivers, Kangsabati and Subarnarekha.

Publisher

Department of English Literature, Language and Cultural Studies, Vidyasagar University

Date

09.01.2025

Contributor

Dr Debdas Roy

Rights

© Department of English Literature, Language and Cultural Studies, Vidyasagar University and ICSSR

Relation

Indigenous Folk Cultural Studies with special reference to Jetor community

Format

JPG Image Files

Language

Local dialect close to Kurmi Mahato language community

Type

Folk Culture

Identifier

Dr Debdas Roy undertook a field visit to the Jetor villages documenting the folk beliefs and rituals as part of his ICSSR Minor Research Project activities.

Coverage

The folk culture of a community who are spatially segregated and live on the edges of the waterbodies especially the rivers, Kangsabati and Subarnarekha.

Collection Items

Joldhala- one of the popular religious festivals
Women from different Jetor villages located at considerable distance are united by their common love of river (Kangsabati) and Baba (Lord Shiva), on whose head they pour Holy River Water twice a year. (Bhatpara, Paschim Medinipur)

Worshipping the Termite Mound
A section of the Jetor community holds a profound reverence towards termite mounds, worshipping them as sacred manifestations of divine power. It is believed that a folk goddess embodies the termite mound on the wall of a living room. The holes and…

Worship of Lord Shiva by an indigenous community
Jetors have their own priests (Bamuns). Nowadays priests are sometimes invited from outside their community, but in olden times their own priest used to perform Puja and related rites.

Ethnic Religious Ceremony of the Jetors
Jetor men of Bhatpara, Paschim Medinipur carrying water from Kangsabati to participate in their ethnic religious-festival named Jol Dhala. The human chain of worshippers resembles Proto-Australoids.
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