Odia fables consider Tulsi as the personified form Maa Brundabati who was blessed by Lord Shiva to be reborn as sacred Tulsi. This purpose of filling the pot is done every morning for the entire month in order to keep the soil moist and wet. Next morning even before we got up mum would offer water or pana into the pot which would trickle down drop-by-drop over the Tulsi. I would quietly stand beside him and see him work. This pot is traditionally called the Basundhra theki. I remember dad erecting bamboo stilts on either side of the Tulashi Chaura (A lotus shaped pot for the Tulsi plant) then taking a small earthern pot and making a small hole at the bottom and inserting a straw ( kutta) into the hole.Then hanging it on the stilts over the Tulsi plant. The Odia Solar new year is marked on the calendar as the start of solar month Mesha because the sun transits to the Mesha rashi from this day. The foremost memories for any festival or puja started with my mum checking the Panji which is the Odia calmanac. Born and brought in Jamshedpur which is hailed as another “melting pot” of vivid cultures evolving into a harmonious whole.Įarnestly thankful to my parents who picked up all the good of every culture and fed it to us which eventually distanced us from cultural polarization. My childhood upbringing was a heady concoction of Bengal-Odia-Bihari cultures. What are some of your memories associated with Mesha/Meru Sankranti while growing up?.I just copy-pasted it into this post due to lack of time rather than rephrasing it into paragraphs. The format requested was in the form of an interview and has some interpersonal questions. So I thought I will share all that I know about the Odia New year through this write-up. The most important failure at the core level is the feeble sense of regional pride and the lack of personified panache to represent the state on the national forum. It is a rich state etched with temples and glorious tales but yet so obscure. The iota of information is there all over the internet but its all muddled, scavenged and suppressed. It fails to receive its due because of several socio-economic subjugation. There is also a sad underline feeling how the state is on the lee-ward side. I have inherited the deep legacy about Odia tradition and culture from my mother. Reverence to our Holy scriptures remains as the backbone of Odia Sanskruti till date. The onset of the odia solar new year is marked by various strong beliefs and fables on the astronomical calendar and hence coined as Maha Vishubha Sankranti, Mesha Sankranti, Meru Sankranti, Theki Basa Sankranti, Jala Sankranti and finally Pana Sankranti. It entails the stories right from Assam to Kerala, Punjab to Bengal, about April being the month of bountiful harvests, abundant kitchens and time-worn food traditions. The abridged version is available to read on this link here.
#Odia recipes full
Here is full article I penned down for Mint Lounge food writer. I was quite thrilled last week to pin the state of Odisha on print media for Odia New year.