After the Ratha Jatra, Jagadhatri Mela is the biggest festival of Baripada, Mayurbhanj in the state of Odisha, India. It is the festival of Maa Jagadhatri, where Jagadhatri means the Goddess of the whole World.

This festival is called as the Mini Bali Jatra after Cuttack's BaliJatra. Both these festivals are celebrated during Ras Purnima or Kartika Purnima.

It's a 7 to 10 days mela or carnival, celebrated in the month of Kartika according to the Odia calendar and in the month of October - November according to the Georgian Calendar. 

The Jagadhatri mela takes place at the Jagadhatri Mela Padia, Bhanjpur near Bhanjpur Railway Station during the month of October–November. The celebration for this mela started from Gosthastami. The Bhanjpur Jagadhatri mela is famous for its unique and attractive decorations.

This mela is also referred to as another Durga Puja in Baripada as it also starts on Asthami tithi and ends on the Dashami tithi. The date of the puja is decided by the luni-solar Hindu calendar.

The history said that, the Jagatdhatri Puja was first started by Maharaja Krishnachandra of Krishnanagar, Nadia in Bengal. That's why Jagatdhatri Puja is very popular in Krishnanagar and near by places like Tehatta, Rishra, Chandannagar, Bhadreswar, Hooghly, Boinchi, Ashoknagar-Kalyangarh.

This year in 2019, one of our friends Biswa had clicked some beautiful and attractive photographs of Jagadhatri Mela, Baripada and here we have attached all these photographs taken from him with proper permission and rights.

The mela doesn't mean for the idols, the decorations, it also includes the people, small to big shops, cultural festivals, etc. So, here are some snaps of the Minabazar.

From those days to these days, food had taken the first priority always and most of the people come to the carnival to eat different kinds of street food, so some good food stalls also started their business here. And here are a few clicks of the food stalls and plates.

Purple Amaranth is the common name of Amaranthus bitumen which is also called Guernsey pigweed. It's an annual plant species in economically important plant family Amaranthaceae and it's good for health.

Saga Muga (Odia: ଶାଗ ମୁଗ) is the traditional Odia dish. And this time, the dish is about green or purple amaranth leaves which is locally produced & found throughout the year. This is a very tasty & also a healthy dish💓.

Pumpkin, brinjal, arum, moong dal, green or purple amaranth leaves, mustard, and cumin seeds, dry red chilly, mustard/vegetable oil, sliced onions, salt are the ingredients n the ingredients are very common.

You can skip the onions n can add a little grated ginger. This is my mother's special dish and I love to prepare this. You can enjoy this Odia style saga Muga with both rice or roti.

* This blog is written by Itishreeya Sahoo.

* You can follow her on Instagram @food_stories99

Enduri Pitha (Odia: ଏଣ୍ଡୁରି ପିଠା) is a variety of pitha made in the Indian state of Odisha mostly in the northern and central region. This is also known as Haladipatra Pitha (Odia: ହଳଦୀପତ୍ର ପିଠା) Enduri is mostly prepared during Prathamastami or Padhuanastami and Manabasa Gurubara in Margasira Masa.

Ingredients for the Enduri Pitha or Haladi Patra Pitha.

• Split black gram - 2 cups
• Raw rice - 2 cups
• Salt to taste

For stuffing

• Grated coconut 
• Jaggery 
• Grated ginger
• Black pepper powder

Making Process Video:

• All these photos are taken by Manaswini Sahoo and posted here with her permission.
• Some contents are taken from Wikipedia.

Further Readings:

The design of houses always attracts people. Each and every person have their dream to make their dream house and all do accordingly. Some people build the house with lots of money and some with huge decorative things. But everybody is creating their house as per their dream.

Apart from all the house designs, some colorful designs of Tribal houses always attract more people. In some places, tourists come to visit their village just because of these attractive houses.

Tribal house is a subgenre of house music that combines traditional house music with world music. It is similar in structure to the deep house but provides elements of ethnic or indigenous musical percussions (typically conga drums or its synthesized derivative).

* All these images are taken by Sudarsan Swain sir and published here with his permission.

Kartika Purnima or କାର୍ତ୍ତିକ ପୂର୍ଣ୍ଣିମା is a Hindu, Sikh, and Jain cultural festival celebrated on the Purnima (the full moon day) or the fifteenth lunar day of Kartik (November–December according to Georgian calendar). It is also known as Tripuri Purnima and Tripurari Purnima in different places.

In Odisha, this festival is known as Danga Bhasa Purnima, where the people of Odisha floats tiny tiny boats on River, Sea, Pond, etc which is known as Boita Bandana in Odia. It is sometimes called Deva-Diwali or Deva-Deepawali, the festival of lights of the gods. Karthikai Deepam is a related festival celebrated in South India and Sri Lanka on a different date.

We have collected all these photos from Odia people, so the ritual of this festival is based on Odia culture. In those glorious time, Odia merchants (Odia: ସାଧବମାନେ) were going to different island like Bali, Java, Sumatra by sailing boats which are popularly known as Boita (Odia: ବୋଇତ) for business purpose.

In these days, the merchants are not going in such purposes through those boats, but still, we are celebrating this festival to remember those days, to enlightening that glorious period of Odisha's Maritime History.

Since the Merchants were going through the sea, before their leaving, their female family members used to worship the boat or Boita there. And from Odisha, Mahanadi is the best place for the merchants to go through the sea, so the Balijatra is organizing at Gadagadia Ghata, Cuttack. Here Balijatra is the combination of two different words 'Bali' and 'Jatra' where Bali means Bali Island of Indonesia and Jatra or Yatra means to travel to Bali.

(Photo: Dr. Biswa Kar)

(Photo: Prabir Sahoo)

(Photo: Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo)

(Photo: Satrujit Singh)

(Photo: Taranisen Pattnaik)

(Photo: Rajashree Sahoo)

(Photo: Abhimanyu Sahoo)

* All these photographs are taken by Dr. Biswa Kar, Dr. Rashmi Ranjan Sahoo, Rajashree Sahoo, Taranisen Pattnaik, Ashok Mishra, Satrujit Singh, Prabir Sahoo, Abhimanyu Sahoo, Parsuram Sahoo and Lalatendu Samal.

- What is Boita Bandana?

- Boita Bandana at Durgapur, Kolkata

- Kartika Purnima From USA

Biranchi Narayan Temple in one Sun Temple in Bhadrak under Odisha Tourism. It's another Sun Temple after Konark Sun Temple and the Biranchi Narayan Temple of Buguda, Ganjam.

Sri Biranchinarayan Temple is in Palia village, which is located around 15 kilometers (9.3 mi) from Bhadrak Town. It's on the south side of Bhadrak, on the way from Bhadrak to Chandabali. It occupies a significant place in the cultural map of Odisha state of India.

The standing Biranchi Narayan Temple stands as evidence of the heritage of Surya Upasana in Odisha. Biranchi Narayan is another name for Lord Surya, the Sun God of light and luster. The existing temple is dedicated to Biranchi-Narayan, who is enshrined as a roughly four-faced image of the Sun.

A square stone slightly tapering towards the top contains four carved images of the Sun, god in relief, on the four sides of a slab. The figures hold two lotuses in two hands, as usual, and are depicted standing on chariots drawn by seven horses. Architecturally, the temple can be dated to the 13th century. It was renovated and reconstructed at the beginning of the 20th century by the generosity of a local zamindar.

In general, the structure exhibits the Kalingan style of temple architecture. The peculiarities of the temple include the two doorjambs of the eastern door, which probably originally belonged to a Saiva temple and were reused in the present temple during a renovation. The sculptures and carvings of the two doorjambs bear a close resemblance to the Siva temples of Bhubaneswar and Khiching of the 10th or 11th century AD.

The main festival of this temple is Ratha Saptami or so-called Maagha Saptami. And another main festival is Samba Dashami. Since Samba, the son of Lord Krishna got cured by worshiping Sun, this festival is celebrating with joy.

• Harishankar Temple
• Dakshineswar Kali Temple, Bhadrak
• Ghanteswari Temple, Sambalpur