Nuakhai 2025
Today is
Nuakhai, a major festival in western Odisha. A festival to thank, through this pre-harvest puja, Ma Samlei, a
tribal goddess incorporated into Hinduism as Mahalakshmi, for a bountiful paddy
crop in kharif.
On this day,
after worshipping Samlei-Mahalakhmi-Annapurna, the noon-meal is partaken as
prasad, a satvik, vegetarian meal cooked without onion or garlic. Thereafter, it
is time for Nuakhai Bhetghat – offering Nuakhai Juhar to elders and blessing
the younger ones.
Before the
era of assured irrigation, the farmers looked up to the sky with prayers for
timely rain, and dread of drought, the periodic curse they suffered. By
Bhadrava Shukla paksha Chaturthi, the day for Ganesh puja, farmers had a pretty
good idea about the forthcoming harvest. If rain had failed, the crop would
have wilted; if there was a pest attack, the ears of paddy still wrapped in
protective cover of leaves, would fail to emerge. In very bad years, farmers
would let loose cattle to feed on the paddy leaves as fodder.
A good paddy
crop, to be harvested in winter, is what kept starvation at bay. That is why
the farmers and all villagers prayed to all the gods – Indra for rain, Vayu to keep
the storms in chains, Agni to restrain the fires to beneficial uses, and
Lakshmi to fill the granaries with paddy, at least enough to last till the next
crop cycle.
Several regions
of our country have their own harvest festivals – Bihu, Pongal, Onam, Lohandi,
and others. However, western Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and parts of
Maharashtra have this unique pre-harvest festival -Nuakhai, Nawakhai, or
Nabanna Bhakshana (partaking of the new grain). Puspuni is the post-harvest
festival in western Odisha.
Nuakhai
Juhar.
May Ma Samlei,
Mahalakhmi, and all the deities bless you and your family.
Note: I
shared a handwritten greeting earlier. Apologies for my awful handwriting which
was never good and has deteriorated with age. I hope some of our digitally
savvy young men and women would soon develop an App to facilitate typing in
Sambalpuri script, or better still, with voice-to-text capability.
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