PM Modi to attend ‘biggest ever’ jhumur event in Guwahati: All about the tribal dance

Sub : History

Sec: Art and Culture

Context:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the “biggest ever” jhumur event, Jhumoir Binandini 2025, in Guwahati’s Sarusajai Stadium on February 24. The event marks the beginning of the Advantage Assam 2.0 summit.
The event, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Assam’s tea industry, will feature 8,600 dancers. Alongside the PM, 60 heads of mission and ambassadors will also witness the historic performance.

Tea Garden Community of Assam:

The tea garden community, also known as the “tea tribes”, are a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic community of descendants of workers from Central India (Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal) who were brought to Assam in the 19th century under harsh conditions to work in the tea gardens.
They are mostly concentrated in Upper Assam and the Barak Valley.
Despite being a significant part of Assam’s workforce, especially in tea production, the community remains socio-economically marginalized. These communities are categorized as Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Assam but have been fighting for Scheduled Tribe (ST)
Tribes such as the Munda or the Santhal, a part of the larger tea garden community in Assam, have ST status in the states where they originally came from.

About Jhumur Dance:

The dance is associated with the Sadan ethnolinguistic group, which traces its roots to the Chotanagpur region.
The Jhumur dance is performed during significant festivals like Tushu Puja and Karam Puja, which celebrate the harvest and farming cycle.
Women are the main dancers and singers, while men play traditional instruments such as madal, dhol, or dhak (drums), cymbals, flutes, and shehnai.
The attire worn varies from community to community, although red and white sarees are particularly popular among women.
Dancers typically stand shoulder-to-shoulder and move in coordinated patterns with precise footwork. The dance is usually performed to upbeat tunes and lively rhythms, with songs in native languages like Nagpuri, Khortha, and Kurmali, though these songs have adapted over time to incorporate elements of Assamese.

Themes of Jhumur Songs:

The songs performed during Jhumur dances often carry grim and poignant themes, reflecting the hardships faced by the tea plantation workers. They offer a glimpse into the exploitation and struggles these workers endured during the migration and settlement process in Assam.