Ravana-podi

Published on 12th June, 2022, in Mid-day. Ravana-podi means burning effigies of Ravana. In the Gangetic plains, this happens at the end of autumn Navaratri after the rains on Vijaya Dashami. In Odisha’s Dasapalla, Nayagarh district, the same happens at the end of the spring Navaratri before the rains on Ram Navami. However, in another part of Odisha, during the rains, people celebrate a different festival, not the killing of Ravana by Ram but the burning of Lanka by Hanuman. This is Lanka-podi and it is a children’s festival, sadly poorly publicised. In Western Odisha, at the confluence of the River Tel and Mahanadi, there ..