— Photo: Lingaraj Panda

AUSPICIOUS BEGINNING: Devotees lighting lamps at a temple in Berhampur on Saturday.

BERHAMPUR: Cultural activities ruled the day throughout the State to mark the beginning of Oriya New Year day on Mahavishuv Sankranti on Saturday.

Celebrations for Vaisakhi, Hanuman Jayanti, Ayappa Vishu Utsav and birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar also coincided.

At all street corners people greeted others with traditional sweetened drink `Pana'. Special puja was conducted at homes and temples to mark the beginning of Oriya New Year. New Oriya Almanac or `Paanji' was ritually read out at temples and homes. Families offered special puja near the Tulsi plant at their houses.

At all Hanuman temples of the city people gathered for mass recital of Hanuman Chalisa for the celebration of Hanuman Jayanti. It was also a festive day for the Sikh community of the city.

At the Gurudwara of the city at Giri road members of Sikh families gathered to celebrate their New Year, Vaisakhi. The `Akhand Paath' of Guru Granth Sahib, that had started 48 hours ago, concluded. It was followed by `Bhog', Kirtan and mass feast or `Langar'.

Recital sessions

Mahavishuv Sankranti was also celebrated as a literary festival throughout the State with meetings of writers and poets. Separate poetry recital sessions were organised in the city by Naveen Sahitya Pratisthan and Kalinga Sahitya Samaj. Naveen Sahitya Pratisthan honoured Saraswati Mishra, Maguni Mishra, Subash Moharana, Hadibandhu Mali, Srinivas Patnaik, Chandramani Swain, Bharatibhusan Patnaik and Subhas Mohapatra for their literary and cultural achievements.

Ayappa devotees of the city gathered up at Mangavarampeta and Hariharveta temples of the city to celebrate Ayappa Vishu Utsav.

They decorated the deity with gold ornaments and worshipped the deity with vegetables and fruits as offerings.

One hundred and seventeenth birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar was celebrated by the Ganjam district administration at Chatrapur.

It was also celebrated at Pandav Nagar of the city by the Harijan Unnayan Samity in the morning. In the evening similar celebration was held by Hadikula Panchayat commitee of Lanjipalli Ambedkar Nagar.

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