Bhubaneswar: The three-day Raja, a quintessential festival of Odisha, celebrates menstruation and womanhood. What makes it so special is the unique amalgamation of rich tradition along with fun, frolic and mouthwatering cuisines amid the first monsoon showers.
It is believed that during the festival of Raja, mother earth undergoes her menstruating state. As a mark of respect towards the earth, all agricultural works, like ploughing, and sowing are suspended for three days. Girls wear new clothes, apply ‘Alata’ on their feet and enjoy folk songs while swinging on decorated rope swings to celebrate the occasion. They are barred from taking up any household chores.
It begins with ‘Saja Baja’ when young girls take bath after anointing their bodies with turmeric paste and all preparations are done to celebrate the three-day festivities. The first day of the festival is called Pahili Raja, the second is Mithuna Sankranti and the third Bhu daha or Basi Raja. The preparation begins one day before Pahili Raja, and it is called Sajabaja. On the fourth day ‘Basumati Snana’, women bathe the grinding stone as a symbol of Bhumi with turmeric paste and adore with flowers and sindoor.
The only other festival which comes close to Raja Parba is Ambubachi Mela, which celebrates the yearly menstruation cycle of goddess Kamakhya. It is one of the largest religious congregations that eastern India hosts at Kamakhya Devi Temple atop the Nilachal hills in Guwahati. The shrine houses the Yoni (Genital) of Goddess Sati and is one of 51 Shaktipeeth centres in India.
The four-day festival begins on the fourth day after the goddess undergoes her annual periods. The temple remains shut during those three days and once it reopens devotees visit the temple to receive the goddess’ blessings, which are small bits of cloth, apparently moist with the menstrual fluid of Goddess Kamakhya.
Legends has it that the goddess possesses supreme powers and hence tantric and sadhus congregate here to perform cult practices. It is also believed that during the monsoon rains, the creative and nurturing power of the ‘menses’ of Mother Earth becomes accessible to devotees at this site.
