Raja Parba or Raja Festival or Mithuna Sankranti is a four day long
festival. The Raja festival is one of the major festival or Parba in
Odisha and celebrated in all over Odisha. The second day signifies
beginning of the solar month of Mithuna from, which the season of rains
starts. It inaugurates and welcomes the agricultural year all over
Odisha, which marks, through biological symbolism, the moistening of the
sun dried soil with the first showers of the monsoon in mid June thus
making it ready for productivity. In this year 2015 the Raja Festival
falls from 14th June to 16th June.
Believes About Raja Festival
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.The term Raja has come from Rajaswala (meaning a menstruating
woman) and during medieval period the festival became more poular as an
agricultural holiday remarking the worship of Bhudevi,who is the wife of
lord Jagannath.A silver idol of Bhudevi is still found in Puri Temple
aside Lord Jagannatha.
Rituals of Raja Festival
During the three days women are given a break from household work and
time to play indoor games. Unmarried girls decorate themselves with new
fashion or traditional Saree and Alatha in feet.All people abstain from
walking barefoot on earth. Generally various Pithas are made of which
Podopitha,and Chakuli Pitha are main. People play a lot of indoor and
outdoor games. Girls play swings tied on tree branches whereas aged
ladies play Cards and Ludo. Many villages organise Kabbadi matches among
young men.
Odia Raja Folk Songs Or Raja Songs
ବନସ୍ତେ ଡାକିଲା ଗଜ,
ବରଷକେ ଥରେ ଆସିଛି ରଜ,
ଆସିଛି ରଜ ଲୋ
ଘେନି ନୂଆ ସଜବାଜ ॥
ରଜ ଦୋଳି କଟ କଟ,
ମୋ ଭାଇ ମଥାରେ ସୁନା-ମୁକୁଟ,
ସୁନା ମୁକୁଟ ଲୋ
ହେଉଥାଏ ଝକମକ ॥
About Raja Festival in Odisha
The Raja Festival falls in mid June, the first day is called
Pahili Raja,second day is
Mithuna Sankranti, third day is
Bhu daaha or
Basi Raja.The final fourth day is called
Vasumati snan,
in which the ladies bath the grinding stone as a symbol of Bhumi with
turmeric paste and adore with flower, sindoor etc. All type of seasonal
fruits are offered to mother Bhumi. The day before first day is called
Sajabaja
or preparatiory day during which the house, kitchen including grinding
stones are cleaned, spices are ground for three days. During these three
days women and girls take rest from work and wear new Saree, Alata and
ornaments. Its similar to
Ambubachi Mela. The most
popular among numerous festivals in Odisha or Orissa, Raja is celebrated
for three consecutive days. Just as the earth prepares itself to whence
its thirst by the incoming rain the unmarried girls of the family are
groomed for impeding matrimony through this festival. They pass these
three days in joyous festivity and observe customs like eating only
uncooked and nourishing food especially Podapitha, do not take bath or
take salt, do not walk barefooted and vow to give birth to healthy
children in future. The most vivid and enjoyable memories one has of the
Raja gaiety is the rope-swings on big banyan trees and the lyrical
folk-songs that one listens from the nubile beauty enjoying the
atmosphere.
To celebrate the advent of monsoon, the joyous festival is arranged
for three days by the villagers. Though celebrated all over the state it
is more enthusiastically observed in the districts of Cuttack, Puri and
Balasore. The first day is called “Pahili Raja” (Prior Raja), second is
“Raja” (Proper Raja) and third is “Basi Raja” (Past Raja).
According to popular belief as women menstruate, which is a sign of
fertility, so also Mother Earth menstruates. So all three days of the
festival are considered to be the menstruating period of Mother Earth.
During the festival all agricultural operations remain suspended. As in
Hindu homes menstruating women remain secluded because of impurity and
do not even touch anything and are given full rest, so also the Mother
Earth is given full rest for three days for which all agricultural
operations are stopped. Significantly, it is a festival of the unmarried
girls, the potential mothers. They all observe the restrictions
prescribed for a menstruating woman. The very first day, they rise
before dawn, do their hair, anoint their bodies with turmeric paste and
oil and then take the purificatory bath in a river or tank. Peculiarly,
bathing for the rest two days is prohibited. They don’t walk bare-foot
do not scratch the earth, do not grind, do not tear anything apart, do
not cut and do not cook. During all the three consecutive days they are
seen in the best of dresses and decorations, eating cakes and rich food
at the houses of friends and relatives, spending long cheery hours,
moving up and down on improvised swings, rending the village sky with
their merry impromptu songs.
The swings are of different varieties, such as ‘Ram Doli’, ‘Charki
Doli’, ‘Pata Doli’, ‘Dandi Doli’ etc. Songs specially meant for the
festival speak of love, affection, respect, social behaviour and
everything of social order that comes to the minds of the singers.
Through anonymous and composed extempore, much of these songs, through
sheer beauty of diction and sentiment, has earned permanence and has
gone to make the very substratum of Odisha’s folk-poetry. While girls
thus scatter beauty, grace and music all around, moving up and down on
the swings during the festival, young men give themselves to strenuous
games and good food, on the eve of the onset of the monsoons, which will
not give them even a minute’s respite for practically four months
making them one with mud, slush and relentless showers, their spirits
keep high with only the hopes of a good harvest. As all agricultural
activities remain suspended and a joyous atmosphere pervades, the young
men of the village keep themselves busy in various types of country
games, the most favourite being ‘Kabadi’. Competitions are also held
between different groups of villages. All nights ‘Yatra’ performances or
‘Gotipua’ dances are arranged in prosperous villages where they can
afford the professional groups. Enthusiastic amateurs also arrange plays
and other kinds of entertainment.
Goddess Chandi, seated on a lotus in a small temple half hidden by
sand mounds, on the river mouth of ‘Kushabhadra’ and the endless Bay of
Bengal stretched to eternity, and a thick growth of Casuarina plantation
around is the scenic maginificence of the place. Before construction of
the Marine drive road, the place was not accessable to out side
visitors. However it attracted large number of local devotees to offer
sacrifices ‘Bali’ in the month of Ashwna Picnicking at Ramachandi was
then a youthful feat. The romantic sight has always fascinated young
lovers, students and picnicking troups from far wide besides a handful
of professional fisherman who exploit inhabitants. However after the
construction of the Marine dive road, the place has become very easily
accessable. We see regular crowd of pleasure seekers both from the
neighbour hood and distant places every day.
