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Rathyatra
This spectacular chariot
festival is held at the famous Jagannath temple at Puri. Rathyatra is also known
as Car festival. This festival is celebrated in the month of Asadha, according
to the Hindu calendar, on the second day of the lunar fortnight that falls
during June-July.
Rathyatra is celebrated
in honour of God Jagannath who is believed to be an incarnation of Vishnu. One
of the many legends goes that Indradyamana, the king of Avanti went to Puri to
have darshan of Vishnu but he found that the god had disappeared. The sage
Narada assured Indradyamana that Vishnu would appear to him in the temple
form of 3 wooden images. When a big tree, radiant with light was seen floating
in the sea, Narada told him to make 3 idols out of it and place them in a
pavilion. Indrayamana got Visvakarma the architect of Gods, to build a
magnificent temple to house the idols and Vishnu himself appeared in the guise
of a carpenter to make the idols on condition that he was to be left
undisturbed until he finished the work. Unable to restrain his curiosity,
Indrayamana went to see Vishnu at work at which the latter abandoned his work
leaving the images unfinished. But a divine voice told Indrayaman to install
them in the temple.
The 3 images represent
the god Jagannath, his elder brother, Balabhadra and their sister, Subhdra. On
the day of the festival the images are taken out in procession in three chariots
to their summer temple for a week. The main chariot is 14 metres high and 10
metres square with 16 wheels. The ropes of the huge chariots are pulled by
millions of devotees. In earlier times devotees would occasionally throw
themselves infront of the chariot of Sri Jagananath, for it was believed that to
be crushed to death under its sixteen wheels was to go straight to heaven. Since
Sri Jagannath is a form of Vishnu and Sri Krishna many of the rituals observed
in the Puri temple are associated with events in the life of Sri Krishna. Thus
the annual car festival represents Sri Krishna's Journey from Gokul to Mathura.
Pana Samkranti
Pana Samkranti or Chhatua Samkranti is celebrated to mark the first day of
the solar month. On this day a small pot with a hole at the bottom filled with 'pana'
or sweet drink is hung on a basil (Tulsi) plant. The falling of water from the
pot symbolizes the falling of rain and thus
this Samkranti marks the commencement of rainy season and of the cultivation
cycle. The people of coastal Orissa ceremonially consume the flour of horse
gram (chhatua) after offering it to the basil plant.
Akshaya
Trutiya
This festival is celebrated on the third day of the bright fortnight of the
lunar month of Vaishakha. This important festival is held in every farming
household. It is characterised by the ceremonial sowing of paddy in the field.
Oblation is offered to the goddess of destiny, 'Shathi'. This is the most
auspicious day to start the construction of house buildings, digging of tanks and
wells. This is the
day on which the construction of the chariots for Ratha Jatra of Lord Jagannath
and his brother and sister starts.
Rajaparab
Raja is one of the most popular festivals of Orissa, though it is not
observed in western Orissa. The first day of the Raja festival is always celebrated in the last day of the solar month of
Jaishtha.
The festival continues for three days. It is believed that the Earth goddess had
started to menstruate on the first day of the Raja and after the third day she is taken
to a ritual bath and returned to normalcy. So this is called as the menstruation
period of the earth, so the earth is to be avoided like a woman. Therefore men
and women avoid touching the earth. Practically for three days there is a
complete stoppage of work and especially boys and girls take to the swing and
sing the typical Raja songs. Singing, merry-making, feasting and display
of gymnastic feats and playing games become the most important preoccupations for
this three days. On the fourth day, when the earth is ritually clean and is
ready for fertilization, the ceremonial ploughing is undertaken in the paddy
fields.
Chitau Amavasya
This is celebrated on the new moon day of the lunar month of Shravana. A special type of rice cake called
'chitau' is offered to Lord
Jagannath at the temple. This cake is prepared and eaten with relish in almost
every household. Gendeisuni, the goddess of snails and oysters is duly
worshipped. These creatures are offered cakes and requested not to bruise the
feet of farmers when they go to remove weeds from the fields.
Nabanna
A widely practiced custom among the tribal as well as non-tribal population
of Orissa is the offering of the first fruits to the deities, especially to the
village deities. Paddy is the most important crop which is considered as Goddess
Lakshmi. There is a special variety of early paddy which is already ripe by this
time. A porridge made of new rice is offered to the ancestral spirits and to the
local deities.
Gahma Purnami
This festival is celebrated as a merry festival of
'Gahma Pumei', on the full
moon day of the lunar month of Shravana and is especially auspicious to
agriculturists. On this day, cattle, especially plough cattle, are colourfully
decorated and given special offering and are worshipped as 'Go-Lakshmi'. That
is the day of rest for the cattle. This festival has much attraction for some
tribal groups like the Hill Bhuiyan of Orissa that in these lean months of
semi-starvations.
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