The story
Bali Jatra Cuttack in Cuttack
Cuttack's Bali Jatra commemorates the ancient Sadhabas, Odia mariners who set sail for Bali, Java, Sumatra and Sri Lanka on Kartik Purnima when seasonal winds turned favorable. Families performed Boita Bandana, floating miniature boats on the Mahanadi to bless departing sailors; that ritual survives, but the event has grown into one of Asia's largest open-air trade fairs on the riverbank at Gadagadia Ghata.
On the full moon night of Kartik, thousands of small boats made from paper, cork, and banana bark are set afloat on the Mahanadi river at Cuttack's Gadagadia Ghata, a ritual called Boita Bandana that recalls the day ancient Odia mariners, the Sadhabas, once launched their wooden ships for Southeast Asia.