The South Reports

Connect with us:
Home » States » Odisha

  1. Where Kansa is king

    Posted by
    / December 31, 2011 / Leave a comment
    One would have heard about a week-long theater festival but this goes on for eleven days.  Every year around this time in December-January, the small town of Bargarh in Odisha indulges itself in hosting the world’s biggest open air theater, an epic play `Dhanu Yatra’ or locally called `Dhanu Jatra’. The annual festival enacts episodes of the Mahabharata including...

  2. Odisha during Karthika

    Posted by
    / November 11, 2011 / Leave a comment
    In Hindu religion, the month of ‘Kartika’ is considered to be the most sacred. During this month, most Hindus in Odisha refrain from eating fish, meat or egg. Some don’t eat even onion and ginger. The next fortnight of the month is spent propitiating their ancestors. Every evening, a covered...

  3. Naveen’s ‘Mamata’, an eyewash

    Posted by
    / October 23, 2011 / Leave a comment
    By Basudev Mahapatra   For the pregnant and lactating women in the state, Odisha government has come up with a new scheme named ‘Mamata’. Announced just before the Panchayat polls, the scheme is designed to support the mothers and their newborn babies with an amount of Rs. 5000 in four...

  4. Orissa’s water bodies reborn

    Posted by
    / September 29, 2011 / Leave a comment
    By Piyush Ranjan Rout   This is an example of how local initiatives through better access to knowledge can restore  precious water bodies. The place I am talking about is in Berhampur city, located in south Orissa, about three hours from Bhubaneswar and Visakhapatnam. Before independence, ponds and irrigation channels...

  5. Bollywood Rickshaw

    Posted by
    / September 21, 2011 / Leave a comment
    By Piyush Ranjan Rout   I have always been a huge admirer of non-motorised transport and studied how it has declined  as a brand over the years.   I was recently in Bhadrak town, a three-hour journey from Bhubaneswar. And the rickshaws of Bhadrak fascinated me as all of them...

  6. Support from Korea against Posco

    Posted by
    / July 7, 2011 / 1 Comment
    Editor’s note : This is a handwritten letter by a Korean activist Sung-Hee Choi (who is now a political prisoner) expressing solidarity with the villagers fighting against POSCO in Orissa.   `The South Reports’ has been focussing on the struggle in Dhinkia through some powerful writing by Sampad Mahapatra and...

  7. The magic of 9

    Posted by Sujata Singh
    / July 3, 2011 / 1 Comment
    As the festival is centred around the rath (chariot) journey of the Lord Jagannath and his siblings, it is most popularly referred as the ‘Rath Yatra’. It is a nine-day annual journey of the Gods, hence ‘Navadina Jatra’ (‘Nava’ for nine, ‘deena’ for days and ‘Jatra’ being the local lingo...

  8. Lord Jagannath, the Juggernaut

    Posted by Sujata Singh
    / July 1, 2011 / Leave a comment
    By Sujata Singh  A Franciscan missionary, named Friar Odoric visited India in the 14th Century and wrote about his visit to Puri in a journal, which he published in Europe later. In his journal, Odoric wrote in detail about the huge chariot of Jagannath and how the devotees threw themselves...

  9. A `youthful’ Lord Jagannath

    Posted by Sujata Singh
    / June 30, 2011 / Leave a comment
    The festival of the first appearance of the Lord Jagannath before his devotees is called `Netrotsaba or `Nava Yaubana (new youth). On the sixteenth day, the images in their new form after renovation become ready for public view.   People congregate for Nabajoubana Darshan or to set eyes on the...

  10. Ten roots that cure the Lord

    Posted by Sujata Singh
    / June 27, 2011 / 3 Comments
    By Sujata Singh   During ‘Anabasara’, the Daitas offer to the Deities only fruits and water mixed with cheese, and Dasamula medicines to cure his fever. The devotees accept that after bathing with water drawn from 108 pitchers, the Lord needs to take rest. Like human beings they are considered...

Archives