Jatinga

Jatinga
village
Jatinga is located in Assam
Jatinga
Jatinga
Location in Assam, India
Jatinga is located in India
Jatinga
Jatinga
Jatinga (India)
Coordinates: 25°06′54″N 92°56′37″E / 25.1149°N 92.9437°E / 25.1149; 92.9437
Country India
StateAssam
DistrictDima Hasao
Government
 • BodyDima Hasao, Jatinga Constituency
Population
 (2011)
 • Total
2,500
Languages
 • OfficialPnar

Jatinga (/dʒəˈtɪŋɡə/also /dʒæ-/) is a village in Dima Hasao district, Assam, India. Located on a ridge, the village is 330 kilometres (210 mi) south of Guwahati.[1] The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi people,[2] with a Dimasa minority.[3] The village is named for the Jatinga station. The word "Jatinga" means "pathway" in Naga.[4]

Jatinga is infamous for being the location of mysterious bird deaths. It has been called "the Bermuda Triangle of birds"[5] and one of "the creepiest places on earth".[6]

History

Jatinga was founded in 1902 by Lakhon Bang Suchiang, who found the area suitable for farming. By 1916, 46 houses had been established there.[4] The economy revolved mainly around orange and betel cultivation, which kept the village prosperous until 1947, when a disease outbreak killed a majority of orange plants, forcing farmers to relocate.[7]

Economy

Jatinga has an agricultural-based economy, with major crops including oranges, pineapples,[4] ginger and culantro.[7] Orange farming, however, has been negatively affected by climate change, with Jatinga farmers experiencing lower crop yields and malformed fruit as a result.[7] Pig farming is a tribal tradition in Jatinga, and has been encouraged by conservationists as an alternative meat source to the wild birds killed for meat by locals.[3]

The area also relies on tourism, mainly from birdwatchers and ornithologists who come to see the mass bird gatherings. In 1998, the potential to develop Jatinga as a tourism destination due to the "bird mystery" was discussed in the Parliament of India, and Omak Apang revealed that sanctions had been made to allow for this.[8] In 2006, more developed plans were made to make Jatinga more accessible to tourists by adding bathrooms to village huts, where visitors would stay, and by adding new viewing points for birdwatching.[9] The effect on locals is mixed; while tourism allows locals to earn direct incomes, the village's small size makes it prone to structural pressures when large influxes of tourists arrive.[10] The website for the Assam Department of Tourism promotes the bird gatherings as a tourism draw to Jatinga.[11]

Mysterious bird deaths

At the end of the monsoon months especially on moonless and foggy dark nights between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m usually in the months of September and October, birds are not disturbed by the locals but out of the dark northern skies will start to descend as they are attracted to lights. These dazed birds are captured using bamboo poles by the locals.[12] The local tribals first took this natural phenomenon to be spirits flying from the sky to terrorize them. This phenomenon is not confined to a single species, with tiger bittern, black bittern, little egret, pond heron, Indian pitta, and kingfishers all being affected,[13] as well as hill partridge, green pigeon, emerald dove, necklaced laughingthrush, and black drongo.[14] The birds are mostly juvenile, according to Assam's best known ornithologist, Anwaruddin Choudhury.[15]

The late naturalist E. P. Gee brought this phenomenon to global attention in the 1960s. He drove to Jatinga with famed ornithologist Salim Ali.[16] The cause of it is likely to be disorientation at high altitudes and high speed winds due to the widespread fog characteristic at the time.[14] The zoological survey of India sent Sudhir Sengupta to unravel this mystery. The most recent description of the phenomenon and its comparison with similar incidents elsewhere in Malaysia, Philippines, and Mizoram is found in the book The Birds of Assam by Anwaruddin Choudhury. He concluded that the birds, mostly juveniles and local migrants, are disturbed by high velocity winds at their roost. When the disturbed birds fly towards lights as refuge they are hit with bamboo poles and killed or injured.[17]

Overhead view of houses in Jatinga

Conservation groups and wildlife officials in India have taken steps to prevent wanton killing of birds across India. Bikash Brahma, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests of Dima Hasao, stated the killings as well as the number of birds arriving at the village has been declining gradually since the last few years.[14] Much of this is due to loss of habitat caused by "development and environment degradation".[15]

In a famous Kakababu story, Ulka Rahasya by Sunil Gangopadhyay, the Jatinga village and its birds are discussed.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Choudhury, A. U. (7 September 1986). "Bird killing at Jatinga", The Sentinel.
  2. ↑ Arora, Akanksha (29 August 2023). "Mysterious Village in Assam With Population of 2,500 People Where Birds Are 'Suicidal'". News18. Retrieved 23 August 2026.
  3. 1 2 Johari, Monsori; Saharia, K.K. (January 2017). "Piggery Farming as a means of Protection to Mysterious Wild Birds and Environment in Jatinga, Assam" (PDF). Indian Research Journal of Extension Education. 17 (1) – via Google Scholar.
  4. 1 2 3 Gogoi, Biren (2016). Saikia, Anjan (ed.). "Potentialities of tourism in Dima-Hasaodistrict of Assam: a review of historical perspectives". The Mirror. 3. Cinnamara College: 168. ISSN 2348-9596.
  5. ↑ "The mystery of the Indian village where birds come to commit suicide". The Times of India. 18 October 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ↑ Strusiewicz, Cezary Jan (31 October 2011). "The 7 Creepiest Places on Earth (Part 3)". Cracked.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. 1 2 3 Kordor Thabath, Amanda; Nath, Aditi (2025). "Effects of Climate Change on Orange Cultivation: A Case study of Orange Cultivators of Jatinga Village, Dima Hasao". In Debnath, Pranesh; Dey, Saurav (eds.). Emerging Dimensions of Business, Economics, Media, and Financial Services in the 21st Century. New Delhi: Bharti Publications. ISBN 9789348059529.
  8. ↑ Parliament of India (9 December 1998) Development of Jatinga and Water Tourist Spot at Paramour in Assam.
  9. ↑ Sinha, Kounteya (11 June 2006). "Assam plans to cash in on bird suicide village". Times of India. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012.
  10. ↑ Status and Prospect of Eco-Tourism in the Dima Hasan District of Assam: A Geographical Analysis. B.P. Chaliha College Department of Geography. 2026.
  11. ↑ "Jatinga". Assam Tourism. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Jatinga Bird Mystery". District Government of Region of North Cachar Hills. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  13. ↑ "Assam Tourism: Jatinga". Assam Tourism Travel Guide. Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  14. 1 2 3 "Birds decreasing in Jatinga 'suicide spot'". The Statesman. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  15. 1 2 "Fewer birds at Jatinga". The Statesman. 27 July 2015. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  16. ↑ Gee, E. P. (1964). The Wild Life of India, Collins, London.
  17. ↑ Choudhury, Anwaruddin U. (2000). The Birds of Assam. Gibbon Books & WWF-India, Guwahati. 240 pp.
  • Jatinga at the Government of Assam website
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