Context:- Raja or Mithun Sankranti is a three-day festival of womanhood celebrated in Odisha, India.

About the Raja festival:

• Raja or Raja Parba or Mithuna Sankranti is a three-day-long festival of womanhood celebrated in Odisha, India.
• On this occasion, people enjoy by cooking traditional delicacies, relishing paan, playing cards and other games with family and friends.
• First day of the festival is called “Pahili Raja” which marks the beginning of the festival in which people do all types of preparations for the festival.
• Second day is called “Raja/Mithuna Sankranti” which signifies beginning of the solar month of Mithuna(June/July) from which the season of rains starts.
• Third day is called “Bhumi Dahana or Basi Raja” which signifies the middle day of the festival in which people take a break from their routine work to relax and enjoy.
• On the fourth day called “Basumati snana”, people give bath to mother earth with turmeric paste and adore it with flower, sindoor etc.

Festival of Agriculture and Worship of Mother Earth

• This is a unique festival of Odisha where Mother Earth is revered.
• Agricultural activities like ploughing and digging are suspended during the festival.
• Like a menstruating woman, Mother Earth is given rest without any disturbance.

Significance of Raja Mahotsav in relation to monsoon

• ‘Pahili Raja‘ falls on the last day of the month ‘Jyestha’, while ‘Raja Sankranti’ falls on the first day of the month ‘Ashadha’.
• ‘Raja Sankranti’ marks the beginning of the rainy season.
• Farmers believe that the fertility of the earth doubles with the first shower of monsoon.

Belief

• This time period is considered as menstruating period of Mother Earth/Bhudevi, which is a sign of fertility
• Bhudevi is known as the divine wife of Lord Jagannath (Vishnu)
• During this period all agricultural operations remain suspended as a mark of respect towards the Earth
• It is considered a festival of the unmarried girls, the potential mothers

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