diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
index 364aa720b4..3c554a3d3d 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/CHANGES.txt
@@ -123,6 +123,9 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
 
     MAPREDUCE-3868. Make Raid Compile. (Weiyan Wang via schen)
 
+    MAPREDUCE-4371. Check for cyclic dependencies in Jobcontrol job DAG
+    (madhukara phatak via bobby)
+
 Branch-2 ( Unreleased changes )
 
   INCOMPATIBLE CHANGES
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/JobControl.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/JobControl.java
index a2bc70aaf5..c706e8d5da 100644
--- a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/JobControl.java
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/JobControl.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
+import java.util.HashMap;
+import java.util.HashSet;
 
 import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
 import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;
@@ -215,6 +217,10 @@ public void run() {
         }
         
         synchronized(this) {
+          if (isCircular(jobsInProgress)) {
+	    throw new IllegalArgumentException(
+		"job control has circular dependency");
+	  }
           Iterator<ControlledJob> it = jobsInProgress.iterator();
           while(it.hasNext()) {
             ControlledJob j = it.next();
@@ -281,4 +287,64 @@ synchronized private void failAllJobs(Throwable t) {
       }
     }
   }
+
+ /**
+   * Uses topological sorting algorithm for finding circular dependency
+   */
+  private boolean isCircular(final List<ControlledJob> jobList) {
+    boolean cyclePresent = false;
+    HashSet<ControlledJob> SourceSet = new HashSet<ControlledJob>();
+    HashMap<ControlledJob, List<ControlledJob>> processedMap =
+	new HashMap<ControlledJob, List<ControlledJob>>();
+    for (ControlledJob n : jobList) {
+      processedMap.put(n, new ArrayList<ControlledJob>());
+    }
+    for (ControlledJob n : jobList) {
+      if (!hasInComingEdge(n, jobList, processedMap)) {
+	SourceSet.add(n);
+      }
+    }
+    while (!SourceSet.isEmpty()) {
+      ControlledJob controlledJob = SourceSet.iterator().next();
+      SourceSet.remove(controlledJob);
+      if (controlledJob.getDependentJobs() != null) {
+	for (int i = 0; i < controlledJob.getDependentJobs().size(); i++) {
+	  ControlledJob depenControlledJob =
+	      controlledJob.getDependentJobs().get(i);
+	  processedMap.get(controlledJob).add(depenControlledJob);
+	  if (!hasInComingEdge(controlledJob, jobList, processedMap)) {
+	    SourceSet.add(depenControlledJob);
+	  }
+	}
+      }
+    }
+
+    for (ControlledJob controlledJob : jobList) {
+      if (controlledJob.getDependentJobs() != null
+	  && controlledJob.getDependentJobs().size() != processedMap.get(
+	      controlledJob).size()) {
+	cyclePresent = true;
+	LOG.error("Job control has circular dependency for the  job "
+	    + controlledJob.getJobName());
+	break;
+      }
+    }
+    return cyclePresent;
+  }
+
+  private boolean hasInComingEdge(ControlledJob controlledJob,
+      List<ControlledJob> controlledJobList,
+      HashMap<ControlledJob, List<ControlledJob>> processedMap) {
+    boolean hasIncomingEdge = false;
+    for (ControlledJob k : controlledJobList) {
+      if (k != controlledJob && k.getDependentJobs() != null
+	  && !processedMap.get(k).contains(controlledJob)
+	  && k.getDependentJobs().contains(controlledJob)) {
+	hasIncomingEdge = true;
+	break;
+      }
+    }
+    return hasIncomingEdge;
+
+  }
 }
diff --git a/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/TestJobControl.java b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/TestJobControl.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..55a6405cd4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hadoop-mapreduce-project/hadoop-mapreduce-client/hadoop-mapreduce-client-core/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/mapreduce/lib/jobcontrol/TestJobControl.java
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+/**
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.jobcontrol;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.List;
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class TestJobControl {
+
+  /*
+   * Tests for the circular dependency between the jobs in job control. If there
+   * is a circular dependency, all the jobs in job control will be failed.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testCircularDependency() throws IOException {
+    ControlledJob job1 = new ControlledJob(new Configuration());
+    job1.setJobName("job1");
+    ControlledJob job2 = new ControlledJob(new Configuration());
+    job2.setJobName("job2");
+    ControlledJob job3 = new ControlledJob(new Configuration());
+    job3.setJobName("job3");
+    job1.addDependingJob(job2);
+    job2.addDependingJob(job3);
+    job3.addDependingJob(job1);
+    JobControl jobControl = new JobControl("test");
+    jobControl.addJob(job1);
+    jobControl.addJob(job2);
+    jobControl.addJob(job3);
+    jobControl.run();
+
+    // assert that all jobs are failed due to cyclic dependency
+    List<ControlledJob> failedJobs = jobControl.getFailedJobList();
+    assertTrue(failedJobs.contains(job1));
+    assertTrue(failedJobs.contains(job2));
+    assertTrue(failedJobs.contains(job3));
+
+  }
+}
+