Joynacharan Bathari
A Dima Hasao folk singer who has spent his life bringing Dimasa songs and instruments to wider audiences, honoured with the Padma Shri in 2025.
Joynacharan Bathari has spent his life singing the songs of the Dimasa people of Assam’s hill district, Dima Hasao. In 2025 he was named for the Padma Shri in the field of art, from Assam [1].
Songs of the Dimasa
Bathari was born on 1 July 1940 in Jorai Bathari village in Dima Hasao, then the North Cachar Hills [2]. From a young age he devoted himself to Dimasa folk music, and he plays the community’s traditional drum, the khram, and flute, the muri [2].
He has sung on All India Radio stations in Silchar, Haflong, Dibrugarh and Shillong, and on stages from Haflong and Agartala to Delhi [2].
A life of service
Bathari worked at the sub-divisional office in Haflong until he retired in 1998 [2]. He served for many years as a village headman (khunang) and as a priest for the Dimasa community, and he knows its customs and rituals deeply [2]. Even in his mid-eighties, he still sings [2].
In 2013 the All Assam Students’ Union gave him its Pratima Barua Pandey memorial award for popularising Dimasa folk culture [2].
Sources
- [1] Padma Awards 2025: list of awardees — Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
- [2] Padma Awards 2025: citation for Joynacharan Bathari — Padma Awards, Government of India. Accessed 11 October 2026.
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