In his address to the Indian diaspora in Bali on the sidelines of the 17th G20 summit 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the annual Baliyatra on the banks of the Mahanadi in Cuttack, which celebrates the ancient trade relations between India and Indonesia.
- This year’s Baliyatra, which concluded on November 17, also found a place in the Guinness World Records for achieving an impressive feat of origami, the creation of beautiful paper sculptures.
About Baliyatra
- Bali Yatra is one of the country’s largest open-air fairs.
- The Yatra is organised every year to commemorate the 2,000-year-old maritime and cultural links between ancient Kalinga (today’s Odisha) and Bali and other South and Southeast Asian regions like Java, Sumatra, Borneo, Burma (Myanmar) and Ceylon (Sri Lanka).
- In the historic city of Cuttack, a week-long event is organised starting from the day of Kartika Purnima (full moon day in the month of Kartik i.e October-November).
- The Kalinga Empire (present-day Odisha) is known for its glorious maritime history.
- Due to the geographical location of Kalinga, this area saw the growth of ports as early as the 4th and the 5th century BC. Some of the famous ports, Tamralipti, Manikpatna, Chelitalo, Palur, Pithunda allowed India to connect with other countries via the sea.
- Soon, the Kalingas had trade links with Srilanka, Java, Borneo, Sumatra, Bali and Burma. Bali formed a part of the four islands that were collectively called the Suvarnadvipa, today known as Indonesia.
- The Kalingas constructed large boats called the ‘Boitas’ and with the help of these, they traded with the Indonesian islands.
- The Bay of Bengal was once known as the Kalinga Sea as it was thronged by these ships.
- The dominance of the Kalingas over the sea routes can be understood from the fact that Kalidasa in his Raghuvamsa referred to the King of Kalinga as ‘The Lord of the Sea’ (Mahodadhipati).
- Interestingly, the ‘Masakapan ke Tukad’ festival celebrated in Bali is similar to the Bali Yatra festival in Odisha. Both festivals are celebrated in the memory of their maritime ancestors.
