he sacrificed his life to fight against injustice and cruelty to farmers. A congregation (Mail in Dogri) is held twice in a year in his memory. One is held in Purnima (Full Moon Day) of "Jyashath" (May - June) in summer and the other on Purnima of "Margshish" (November - December) in winter. This year congregation fell on 26th of June. The main congregation is held at "Dori Dager", the place of Ni
rvan (Death) of Baba Mai Mal. It is also held on the same day at other places of Tehsil Akhnoor, Sunderbani, Nowshera, Kalakote and Reasi. At some places, it is held on the next day of Purnima to facilitate the devotees to attend the main function at 'Dori Dager'. The other prominent places include Nathal, Mallah, Balli and Palail (Birth place of Babaji) in Akhnoor; Dhok Banyar, Baja Bain, Thanda Pani and Bakher in tehsil Sunderbani. The people in thousands from Jammu, Rajouri, Reasi and Udhampur district participate in these bi-annual congregations. The people throng these place to seek blessings of Baba Mai Mal. They lay offerings at the Darbars of Baba Ji to get their wishes fulfilled. Many families have got blessings of Baba Ji and turned prosperous. Many ailing persons have got healing touch. In the main function (mail), the Diayala's (Priests) perform "Jatter" at night in which they tell the past and forecast the future of desiring people. It is said that the soul of Baba ji enters their bodies which causes trembling in them. Babaji speaks through Diayalas making them medium of expression. He tells the people the causes of their diseases, sufferings and other problems and suggests remedial measures. Babaji enters the bodies of Diayalas when Jogi's (Drum beaters) sing his life history (Kark) beating their drums in a unique manner. The devotees put some grains of wheat in front of the idol of Babaji as a question. The Diayalas call questions one by one predicting their questions. The question is kept secret till it is revealed by the Diayala's with the blessing of Babaji. Then concerned devotee (questioner) stands up. Babaji tells him her the causes of sufferings and suggests remedies. So many people have got the healing touch and will get in future also. Baba Mai Mal was born at Palail hamlet of village Dager in Akhnoor. His Childhood name was Ugg Mal alias Uggo. His father was "Pillo", a Uppul Brahmin and the mother was Radha who belonged to Raina family. His date of birth is not known but it is believed that he was born on the day of Purnima of "Kartik" about 580 years ago in the 15th century. His father died when he was a child and his mother, Raha brought him up with many difficulties. When he was young he tried to get some land for cultivation. He had only a small piece of land at Palail and could hardly make both ends meet. He went to a landlord at Nathal who was called the King of the area. He was a Saini Rajput and his name was Bhuhal Saini. He was given a bushy and barren land. A written agreement was made and Baba Mai Mal had to hand over one-fourth of the share to the landlord. Baba Mai Mal worked hard day and night and levelled the ground and removed the bushes. The land turned into a good field.As he worked hard in the fields, his name became "Mahi Mal". Mahi means land and Mal means wrestling. So Mahi Mal means a person who do wrestling with the land. With passage of time Mahi Mal changed into Mai Mal. Baba Mai Mal was also the Purohit of the landlord. But some of the men working for the landlord were against the deal. They started planning against Baba Mai Mal. They started ear-poisoning the landlord and tried to defame him in one way or the other. They even blamed Mai Mal of having illicit relations with one of the Ranis (wife of landlord). The landlord came into the grip of his men and turned against Mai Mal. In the meantime, a good crop of wheat had turned up. It was the result of hard labour of Baba Mai Mal. Everyone was praising Baba Mai Mal. But men of landlord turned jealousy. They informed the landlord about the good crop and asked him to get 50 percent share instead of 25 Percent. They took him to the fields. The landlord was astonished to see it as he never expected such a good crop. He turned greedy. He demanded fifty percent share of the production which Baba Mai Mal denied. He ordered his men to lift the whole crop and took back the possession of land by force. Babaji requested the landlord to return the crop and the land but landlord turned a deaf ear to it. Baba Mai Mal tried to seek justice using elders of the village. He ran from pillar to post but no body paid any heed to his request keeping in view the infuence of the King (landlord). His mother tried to pacify him and asked him to stop begging as it is very difficult to get justice from the selfish people. But he tried again and again. He used to go in the morning and return in t
