Bali travel festival
The Prime Minister mentioned about his visit to Bali during the recent G-20 summit.
- Bali Yatra (Bali travel festival) is a celebration commemorating Odisha’s ancient links with Indonesia and South East Asia. It is one of the biggest open air fairs in India.
- Bali Yatra is organized every year. It is held to celebrate the maritime and cultural contacts between ancient Kalinga (present-day Odisha) and Bali and other regions of South and Southeast Asia.
- Ancient Kalinga also had links with other regions of Southeast Asia, such as Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
- This yatra festival is celebrated on the banks of river Mahanadi. It begins with Kartik Purnima (full moon day in October-November).
- The festival is similar to the ‘Masakpan Ke Tukad’ festival of Bali.
Maritime History of the Kalinga Kingdom
- Kalidasa mentions the king of Kalinga as the ‘lord of the ocean’ (mahodadhipati) in Raghuvamsa Kavya. This address is indicative of the dominance of Kalinga on the sea routes.
- Due to its geographical location, several ports developed in Kalinga in the 4th and 5th centuries BCE.
- Some of the famous ports were: Tamralipti, Manikpatna, Chelitalo, Palur, Pithunda, Dantapura, Kalinga Nagar etc.
- The Kalingas made big boats called ‘Boita’.
- Apart from South and South East Asia, there were also trade relations with East African and some Arab countries.
- The trade declined during the Mughal and British rule.
Evidence of connection between Bali and Kalinga
- The temples bear significant resemblance as socio-cultural centers in both Bali and Odisha.
- Similar types of roulette have been found at Sembiran in northeastern Bali and at Manikpatna, Tamluk sites in Odisha.
- An inscription of 14th century AD has been received from Bali, which is in Oriya language. In addition, the scripts used in Bali were also used in Kalinga in the tenth century AD.
- A section of Brahmins in Bali have presented themselves as CoBrahmins – Buddha-Kalinga.
Source – The Hindu
