Berhampur celebrates Thakurani yatra

BERHAMPUR: The southern Orissa town of Berhampur, known as the Silk city of Orissa is celebrating the biannual Thakurani yatra. The yatra is being observed to mark the visit of Goddess Budhi Thakurani, the presiding deity of the town from temple to her father's house at Desbehera street here. The festival which was scheduled to end on Monday night, had been extended till April 25. "We have extended the festive period considering the request of the yatra committee," said Ganjam District Collector V K Pandian. Several people of the town, irrespective of their ages dress up as Hanuman, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva along with Parvati and move in the streets during this festival. "I am dressed like Sri Krishna as my mother had vowed to the Goddess for my welfare," said 21-year-old Raju, a computer engineering student. Not only the mythological characters, several others also attires like some social and folk dance characters. While over 100 people of Bijipur area shaved their heads and dressed like Budhist monk, over 50 people of Dalua street dressed like the followers of Guru Nanak during the festival. However, the experts were not sure about the origin of the practice of wearing attires in the Thakurani yatra. "We have observed that more number of people are participating in attire show this time than the previous years", said Subash Chandra Padhy, Reader of History, Berhampur University. Hrushikesh Panigrahi, the programming executive of All India Radio (Berhampur) who has conducted research on it claimed the attire (vesha) system originated from the Berhampur Thakurani Yatra. "Almost all veshas are closely related to the goddess and they depict themselves to appease the Goddess", he said.

Source: PTI, IBNLive