Patua Jatra happens to be a ritualistic performing art like Danda Nata, followed by the low caste of labour class people. There are many types of patua such as Ghata Patua (who dances on stilts keeping a pitcher on his head), Udapatua (who is made to hang on a revolving pala), Nian Patua (who walks on fire), Kanta Patua (who walks on nails and thorne), Khandapatua (who stands on sword's edge), Phoda Patua (who gets pricked all over his body), Jhula Patua (who hangs with head
downwards over a burning flame and the common Patua who sings and dances).
While all the former Patuas are nothing but self inflicted penance, the last variety contains song, dance and acting. This Patua Jatra follows a pattern like that of pala in its costumes as well as in the deliberations with a variation and is of lesser standard. There are characters known as Rauta as the main singer & Rautani as the main dancer as in Chaiti Ghoda. Besides these, there are the chorus boys. With Routa's singing, Ramatali is played & than dancing starts with the accompaniment of Dhol and Mohuri. Although this Patua Jatra is not in a drama form and consists mainly singing and dancing, intermittent
improvisation of dialogues, comical skits makes it quite interesting. A show which usually takes a whole night duration needs an arena for performance and no green room.
Sometimes Badi Patua Jatra or competition between two or three groups also takes place.