Odisha's Sital Sasthi festival ends on a high note

SAMBALPUR: Despite the scorching heat, lakhs of devotees paid obeisance to Lord Shiva and his consort Goddess Parvati on the last day of Sital Sasthi festival here on Sunday.

The marriage of the divine couple was solemnised on Friday. The marriage of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati is called Sital (cool) Sasthi and is held on the sixth day of the fortnight of the Odia month of ‘Jyestha’.

The festival is celebrated to welcome the much-awaited monsoon.

This year, around 7,000 artists from across the country had been invited by  Jharuapada, Nandapada, Mudipada, Badbazar and Thakurpada Sital Sasthi Yatra Committees to perform in the carnival, also known as the home-coming procession of the divine couple after completion of their marriage ceremony.

The home-coming procession of the divine couple began on Saturday night and continued till early on Sunday. It resumed after a break and concluded late in the afternoon.

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Apart from various folk dances of the State, including Sambalpuri dance, Ghumra, Karma, Medha Nacha, Mayura Nacha, Bagha Nacha, Mukha Nacha, Kandhei Nacha and Bada Ghoda Nacha, Aghori dance from Rajasthan, Kalanki dance and Raut folk dance from Chhattisgarh, Bihu dance from Assam, Bhangra and Gidda from Punjab charged the atmosphere at the carnival.

Dancers also swayed to the tune of foot-tapping and Hindi and Sambalpuri numbers much to the delight of the crowd.  Apart from this, tableaus on mythology, various issues and characters were part of the carnival.

With different organising committees taking different routes to the temples where the carnival culminates, people had to move from one area to the other to have a glimpse of the newly-wed divine couple and different dance forms.

The district administration and police administration had made adequate arrangements for the smooth passage of the grand carnival.

Around 33 platoons of the police force had been deployed across the city during the homecoming procession. Several charitable and social organisations had made arrangements to provide cold drinking water and food to the visitors.