Pana Sankranti
Pana Sankranti Maha Bishuba Sankranti | |
---|---|
Official name | Pana Sankranti, Maha Bishuba Sankranti, Odia Nua Barsa |
Also called | Maha Bisuba Sankranti |
Observed by | Odias |
Type | Social, Cultural, Religious |
Significance | Odia New Year |
Celebrations | Meru Jatra, Jhaamu Jatra, Chadak Parba |
Observances | Pujas, processions, Bela Pana |
Date | 1st Baisakha of Odia calendar |
Related to | South and Southeast Asian solar New Year |
Pana Sankranti, (
The festival is celebrated with visits to Shiva, Shakti or Hanuman temples.[8] People take baths in rivers or major pilgrimage centers. Communities participate in mela (fairs), participate in traditional dance or acrobatic performances. Feasts and special drinks such as a chilled wood apple-milk-yoghurt-coconut drink called pana is shared, a tradition that partly is the source of this festival's name.[8][3]
Pana Sankranti is related to new year festivals in South and Southeast Asian solar New Year as observed by Hindus and Buddhists elsewhere such as Vaisakhi (north and central India, Nepal), Bohag Bihu (Assam), Pohela Boishakh (Bengal), Puthandu (Tamil Nadu) etc.[7][9]
Practices
In the Odia Hindu tradition, Pana Sankranti is believed to be the birthday of the Hindu deity Hanuman, whose loving devotion to Rama (the seventh incarnation of Vishnu) in the Ramayana is legendary. His temples, along with those of Shiva and Surya (the Sun god) are revered on the new year.[8][10]
Hindus also visit
The significance of the day is that the new Odia calendar or Panjika is also introduced which is an almanac of Hindu festivals and contains the dates of festivals, auspicious days and timings, timings of sunrise and sunset along with horoscopes for the year.[12][10]
Bela Pana
People from all over the state eat festive
Basundhara theki
An important ritual observed during Pana Sankranti is Basundhara theki. A water filled earthen pot with a small hole at the end is placed at the top of the holy basil plant, so that water keeps dripping on the plant.[12]
Local celebrations
Ghantapatuas are traditional male folk artistes from the Odisha that perform the art form "Jhama nata" during Pana Sankranti. They generally perform in a group of two or four wearing dresses that resemble women's clothing.
Related holidays
This new year day is celebrated elsewhere across South and Southeast Asia which follow the related Hindu-Buddhist solar calendar traditions of South and Southeast Asian solar New Year (Mesha Sankranti and Songkran). It is known Vaisakhi across North India and Nepal and marks the beginning of the Hindu Solar New Year.[15][16] The same day every year is also the new year for many Buddhist communities in parts of southeast Asia such as Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Cambodia, likely an influence of their shared culture in the 1st millennium CE.[16] Some examples include:
- Vaisakhi in North India and Nepal
- Pohela Boishakh in states of West Bengal and Bangladesh
- Bohag Bihu in Assam
- Jur Sital in Mithila
- Puthandu in Tamil Nadu
- Vishu in Kerala
- Aluth Avuruthu in Sri Lanka[17]
- Songkran in Thailand
- Chol Chnam Thmey in Cambodia
- Pi Mai Lao in Laos
- Burma
However, this is not the universal new year for all Hindus. For many others who follow the Lunar calendar, the new year falls on Chaitra Navaratri, Ugadi, Gudi Padwa etc, which falls a few weeks earlier.[16] For some, such as those in and near Gujarat, the new year festivities coincide during the five day Diwali festival.
See also
- Chandaneswar, Shiva temple in Odisha, India
References
- ISBN 9788178353777
- ^ Orissa (India) (1966). Orissa District Gazetteers: Ganjam. Superintendent, Orissa Government Press.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-902210-43-8.
- ^ Maha Vishuba Sankranti Odisha celebrates Maha Vishuba Sankranti with Fervor
- ISBN 978-81-8424-584-4. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ISBN 978-81-246-0037-5. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-59884-206-7.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-85495-21-7.
- ISBN 978-81-7479-009-5. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
- ^ a b c "Know The Significance Of Odia New Year". Sambad. April 14, 2021.
- ^ "Patuas take the plunge for wish fulfilment". The New Indian Express. 15 April 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ a b c "Maha Vishuba Sankranti along with Odia New Year celebrated with religious fervor". Orissa Post. April 14, 2019.
- ^ "On Pana Sankranti, Know The Significance Of The Drink & Learn The Recipe To Make Best 'Bela Pana'". Ommcom News. 14 April 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ "Harvesting grain, making memories". Livemint. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
- ^ Crump, William D. (2014), Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide, MacFarland, page 114
- ^ ISBN 978-0-415-44851-2.
- ISBN 978-981-4260-83-1.
Further reading
- Robert Sewell (15 March 2010). The Indian Calendar – With Tables for the Conversion of Hindu and Muhammadan Into A. D. Dates, and Vice Versa. Read Books Design. pp. 149–. ISBN 978-1-4455-3119-9. Retrieved 10 November 2011.