| There is no better evidence for this
religio-spiritual yearning in its popular form than the string of
festivals that is spread over the year. As has been said earlier, Orissa
is a confluence of the Aryan, Dravidian and Adivasi cultures all of
which by the quest of the numinous. |
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| Pujas |
The major Hindu festivals which have a
national character are: Saraswati Puja, Ganesh Puja, Sivaratri,
Janmastami, Durga Puja, Lakshmi Puja, Kali Puja, Kartik Pjua, etc.
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 Durga
Puja (September-October) symbolises the commemoration of good over
evil. Life comes to a stand-still in the city of Cuttack as crowds pour
over the Puja Mandaps to enjoy the festivities. On the day succeeding
Vijaya Dasami, the last day of Dussera, the images are taken in a
spectacular procession for immersion in the river Kathajodi.
 Saraswati
Puja is usually held in January-February and it is also known as
Vasanta Panchami (fifth day of Spring) and it marks the end of Winter
and advent of spring. Saraswati is the goddess of learning and as such
this festival is celebrated most ardently by the school and college
students to pray for success in their academic pursuits. Thousands of
clay idols are worshipped in the academic institutions, in public places
and in homes. The next day the idols are taken in procession to rivers,
ponds and seas and immersed. This immersion of idols is a common
feature of all the festivals in which they are installed for worship. In
some places the immersion cakes place on the 3rd, 5th or 7th day of the
worship.
 Ganesh
Puja (August-September) is also a festival of students mostly, but
adults participate in it eagerly as tire god, son of Sival is the
remover of all obstacles the path of success in ones endeavours. Ganesh
has the head of an elephant supposed to have been grafted on his trunk
after his head was destroyed by theevil look of the god Saturn. He is
famed for his intellectual brilliance and so students are attracted to
him to achieve similar powers.
 Shiva
Ratri (February) is one of the most prominent festivals of the Saivites
in Orissa. Owing to the presence of a large number of temples of Siva,
the festival is celebrated widely. It is also known as Jagara jatra
which refers to the night-long vigil kept by the devotees,
especially women, to have their desires fulfilled. In many
places the celebration of the festival is marked by the organisation of
fairs of different kinds. The most notable places for this festival are
the Lokanath temple (Puri), Lingaraj temple (Bhubaneswar), Kapilas
temple (Dhenkanal) and Nrusinghnath temple (Balangir).
 Janmastami,
tile birth day of Krishna, is another famous festival observed in the
temple of Jagannath ill many temples and maths and also in household
shrines. Devotees fast throughout the day and break it only after the
symbolic birth of Krishna takes place al midnight. Krishnas birth
heralds the hope for the destruction of the demon Kansa and so it
becomes memorable as the eventual triumph of good over evil. EM Forster
has immortalized this festival in A Passage to India.
 How
powerful is the cult of Shakti worship in Orissa, both in the Tantric
and non-Tantric forms, call be realized from tile festivals
or Durga Puja (September-October) and Kalipuja (October-November)
which are celebrated with utmost solemnity, gaiety and eclat. The great
Mother as the ten-handed Durga is believed to come down from her
husbands home on Mount Kailash to her parents abode on the Himalayas
every year for three days, tile 7th , 8th and 9th days of the bright
fortnight in the month of of Aswina. There site is Parvati, the daughter
of king of mountains, but in her incarnation as Durga she is worshipped
as the destroyer of the buffalo-demon Mahisasura. In Orissa richly
decorated and beautiful made images are installed all over the
state and the festival instils a spirit of holiness and sancity into the
whole community so much so that people of other faiths participate in
it with abundant warmth and sincerity. In Orissa the special feature of
Durga Puja is that in the temples it soreads ovet sixteen days unlike on
other parts of the country where it lasts for three to none days at
most.
It is the same
story in regard to Kali Puja which is preceded by Lakshmi Puja
on the full moon day after Durga Puja. Lakshmi Puja in public is
celebrated in grandeur in places like Kendrapara and Dhenkanal but in
the homes she is worshipped on that day for wealth and prosperity.
Kali Puja has another
dimension in Orissa. Kali is the destroyer of time or Kala, she too is
the goddess of death and destruction having her abode in the cremation
grounds. But to the Shaktas she is Parambrahma swarupjni (identical with
the Supreme Brahman), creator of the universe, its sustainer and
ultimately its detroyer The Markandeya Purana, Devi Bhagavata, Kalika
Purana and othrer books describe her as the ultimate Mystery of the
Universe. If she is the desroyer of Mahisasura (as Durga), Shumbha,
Nishumbha, Chanda, Munda, Raklavirya, she is also the
compassionate Mother. The two mudras in her right hands, abhaya
(protection from fear) and vara (granting of boons) and the raised
blood-smeared sword in one her left hands with the freshly severed
head of a demon dangling from the other hand, with three eyes standing
for the sun, the moon and fire (Agni) make her a most complex symbol of
love, compassion and terror. Like the Durga Puja, Puja is observed all
over the stale though not to the same extent.
The Hindu festivals
are numerous no doubt, but they do not diminish the importance of the
festivals of the Muslims, Christians and Sikhs all of which are
celebrated in Orissa in a spirit of camaraderie, almost unmatched
elsewhere. Easter, Good Friday and Christmas; Id-ul-Fitre, Id-ul-Zolla
and Muharram and Guru Nanaks birthday are observed by the respective
communities with active public participation.
It is the
contemplation of the beauty, meaning and significance of these
festivals both local and national, and the wide response evoked by them
among the people that show how the stream of religion continues to flow
as a subterranean in the collective life of the Oriya people. The
significance becomes overwhelming when one thinks of the perils of
dehumanization brought about by a mechanistic view of the universe
supplemented by a technotronic culture.
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| Dola Purnima (Holi) |
 Dolapwnima
or Holi is the most famous spring festival of India. Usually celebrated
in March It has special properties in its celebration in Orissa where
it is a five day affair, especially in the rural areas. The images of
Krishna are worshipped form Dashami (10th day of the bright fortnight)
to the full moon day. The images are taken in decorated vimans, small
wooden temples, carried on the shoulders of bearers from house to house
where offerings are made to them. After the tour of the village the
vimanas from different villages are assembled in an open field and the
time is spent in bhajana and kirtan. Jatras and palas are also held in
the area. The day after the full moon day people throw coloured water on
one another and smear each others faces with coloured powder (3bir).
The festival is specially important for cattle owing to their
association with the cowherd boy Krisllna. They are bathed, anointed
with vermillion, garlanded and fed sumptuously. The festival is
connected with the destruction of the demon Holikasura or the she-demon
Holika by making a bonfire, for which the festival is called Holi.
Such Melanas or Fairs continue till the month of Chaitra in different places of the district of Cuttack, Puri and
Ganjam.
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| CHANDAN YATRA |
 This
festival is generally famous in Puri but in other pars of Orissa this
is also observed related to Lord Jagannath or Krishna. This Takes place
in the month of Vaisaksha and continues for long 42 days. But, generally
speaking it is a Festival of first 21 days only.The first period of 21
days is known as "Bahar Chandan"or outer Chandan. During this period,the
representative images of Rama,Krushna, Madanmohan,Sridevi and Bhudevi
are taken in a procession to Narendra tank.The images of Siva from 5
Siva Temples known as "Pancha Pandavas" also accompany them to the
Narendra tank, At Narendra tank the images play in well decorated boats
and are worshipped. The second period of 21 days known as "Bhitar
Chandana" is celebrated inside the Temple. The rites observed on this
period are not popularly enjoyed. |
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| Snana Yatra |
 This
Festival takes places in the month of Jestha. it is popularly known as
the Deba Snana Purnima.This is the first occasion in the course of a
year when the deities Jagannath,Balabhadra,Subhadra along with Sudarsan
and Madanmohan are brought out from the Temple and taken in procession
to Snana Bedi located in the North East corner of the outer compound.The
deities are bathed there with 108 pitchers of water drawn from a well
near the Northern Gate. Here,Jagannath and Balabhadra are dressed like
Lord Ganesh of the Purans with the head of an elephant | |
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