Baliyatra

Baliyatra

Subject : Art and Culture

Context :During the G20 Summit, PM Modi mentioned Baliyatra, literally ‘voyage to Bali’, one of the country’s largest open-air fairs that commemorates the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga and Southeast Asia.

Concept :

• Baliyatra, literally ‘voyage to Bali’, is one of the country’s largest open-air fairs, which is organised every year to commemorate the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga (today’s Odisha) and Bali and other South and Southeast Asian regions like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
• The popular items of trade between Kalinga and Southeast Asia were pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, silk, camphor, gold, and jewellery.
• This year’s Baliyatra also found a place in the Guinness World Records for achieving an impressive feat of origami, the creation of beautiful paper sculptures.

About Baliyatra Festival

• Bali Jatra is also known as Bali Yatra and BoitaBandaṇa which means ‘A Voyage to Bali’.
• This festival is held in Odisha, in the city of Cuttack at GadagadiaGhata of the Mahanadi river. 
• The festival is celebrated every yearfrom the day of Kartika Purnima according to the Odia Calendar, which comes around the end of October and November.
• It is celebrated to mark the day when ancient Sadhabas (Odia mariners) would set sail to distant lands of Bali, as well as Java , Sumatra and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural expansion.
• People of Odisha gather near banks of Mahanadi, Brahmani river, other river banks, ponds to float miniature toy boats, made of colored paper as a symbolic gesture of their ancestors’ voyage.
• In Cuttack, Bali Jatra is celebrated annually as a large open fair near the Barabati Fort area with several cultural programs, toy stalls, different games and food stalls selling Odia delicacies.