Three-day Raja festival begins in Odisha

Odisha Channel Bureau Bhubaneswar: The three-day-long annual Raja festival began in Odisha on Saturday with the people, primarily unmarried girls wearing new dresses and enjoying the freshly prepared traditional delicacies such as Podapitha and Mandapitha, Aarishapitha.Raja is basically an occasion of celebrations for the farming community when farmers take a complete break from farming activities.The festival is celebrated in coastal Odisha in a grand way.According to mythology, it is believed that the mother goddess Earth or the divine wife of Lord Vishnu undergoes menstruation during the first three days.The fourth day is called as Vasumati Gadhua or ceremonial bath of Bhudevi.Though Raja festival marks the advent of monsoon, there was no sign of rain in any part of Odisha till Friday and life had been thrown out of gear with temperature hovering above 40 degrees Celsius during the past several days.Low voltage and frequent power cuts had also added to the woes of the people in the rural areas across the State.The situation, however, was likely to improve as the sky was overcast since Saturday morning and there was possibility of rain during the three-day festival.As people in rural areas celebrated the festival with traditional gaiety and fervour, those living in cities too had the opportunity to join the Raja celebrations organised by many voluntary organisations as well as government-run bodies.Odisha Tourism Development Corporation had organised Raja celebrations at its Pantha Nivas situated at Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur, Barkul, Rourkela, Chandipur, Paradip, Konark, Gopalpur, Puri and Cuttack.Tourists as well as local people were seen visiting their nearest Pantha Nivas to enjoy the festival with the Raja Doli (swing) and the sweet dishes and country cakes.