Paper short abstract:

The maritime activities of the sea-shore people shape their life and culture. The annual festival Boita Bandana of Odisha bears this testimony. In Boita Bandana the people of Odisha revisit the maritime history of their association with the distant shores of South East Asia.

Paper long abstract:

Since ancient times, the sea-faring activity is the distinctive signature of Odisha, a present state of India. On crossing the Indian Ocean in boats with sails unfurled and trading in far-off islands of South-East Asia, the heroic and ever agile merchants of ancient Kalinga kingdom (c. 3rd cen. BCE) i.e. present Odisha earned worldwide fame. This trade with South East Asian countries not only helped in developing cultural exchange but significantly contributed towards the prosperity of the then Kalinga. Even today the influence of the religious ideas and social concepts and as well as glimpses of lofty art and cultures of the Odisha are distantly visible in those countries.

To commemorate the glorious saga of ancient maritime trade, Cuttack as well as the rest of Odisha, has been celebrating a socio-religious festival Boita Bandana Ceremony of Bali-yatra annually.

In Boita Bandana the people of Odisha, dressing up in traditional costumes, float small boats made of cork, coloured paper and banana tree barks in the river or water tanks every year in the full moon day of the month of Kartika (October/November). The festival is similar to the 'Masakapan Ke Tukad' festival of Bali, and to the 'Loi Krathong' festival of Thailand, both of which involve ritualistic floating of boat-models around the same time of year.

Such festival of Odisha is presented through tableau to globalize maritime traces and post-colonial reality. It incorporates interdisciplinary intersections that exist within the realm of history and archaeological practice and heritage studies.