Sambalpur: The ‘lagna’ or auspicious moment for Nuakhai, the main agrarian festival of western Odisha, was fixed Saturday. According to calculations by scholars and astrologers, this year the festival will be celebrated Thursday, August 28, on the fifth day (Panchami) of the lunar fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of Odia ‘Bhadrava’ month.
The puja for Goddess Samalei, the presiding deity, will be performed in the auspicious moment of Libra ascendant (Tula Lagna) between 10.33 am and 10.55 am. Following tradition, the first offering of the newly harvested rice ‘Nabanna’ will be offered to the presiding deity before people across the region participate of the ritual meal.
The date was formally set during a ceremony held Saturday at 4.30 pm in the Brahmapura temple at Jhaduapada in Sambalpur.
The event, organised by the Brahmapura Trust Board, brought together priests and astrologers from various parts of the district.
The collective decision was first offered to the deity of the Brahmapura temple through special prayers performed by temple priest Santosh Panda. Sanjay Kumar Mishra, a member of the temple trust board, later announced the date and time of the festival to the public.
Afterward, scholars, astrologers, trust board members and officials joined a procession through the city before reaching the Samalei Temple at dusk.
There, they offered special prayers to the goddess and offered the Nuakhai Lagna to the deity.
Samalei temple chief priest Ambika Prasad Ray, along with temple trust board chairman Sanjay Kumar Babu and other priests, accepted the ‘Lagna’ in accordance with the tradition.
The event was coordinated with the support of Brahmapura Temple Trust Board president-member Saroj Kumar Dalpat, Srimantra Mishra, Sushant Kumar Purohit, Milu Panigrahi, Pranaranjan Panda, Partha Sarathi Mishra, Shubhendra Kumar Panda, Abhishek Mishra and Praveen Kumar Dixit.
Among those who participated were Shree Shree Brahma Pandit Mahasabha president Rabinarayan Panda, Pandits Sachidananda Mishra Karasharma, Jitendra Kumar Nanda, Krushnachandra Panigrahi, Chandrakant Panigrahi, Maheshwar Nayak, Sarit Kumar Padhi, Gopinath Panda and Shashank Shekhar Mishra, along with several other scholars from various parts of the district.
PNN
