Spirituality

Odisha families honor ancestors with lamps and burning jute during Diwali

Odisha TV reports that families in Odisha raise burning bundles toward the sky during Diwali to honor their ancestors. The evening ritual, known as Badabadua Daka, accompanies prayers for departed relatives and is part of the state's festival observances.

The practice reflects a belief that ancestors visit their families on Diwali's dark night and return to heaven along a path lit for them, according to Odisha TV. American Kahani describes the flames as part of a farewell to ancestors on Deepavali evening.

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Jute flames mark an ancestral farewell#

In an account of the Odisha tradition, American Kahani describes families gathering in a courtyard, often around a tulasi chaura, or holy basil plant. Each person holds a bundle of dried jute stalks called kaunria kathi, lights it from an earthen lamp used in the evening worship and raises it toward the sky.

The ritual is accompanied by a traditional chant invoking ancestors, Odisha TV reports. Families also clean and decorate their homes, light earthen lamps and sky lanterns, prepare traditional cakes and other food, and worship Lakshmi, Ganesha and Kali at home.

In Puri, Odisha TV reports, people offer Pinda Daan, an offering to ancestors, and perform Shraddha rituals on the Baishi Pahacha, the 22 steps of the Srimandir. Evening brings devotees to the area before the Singhadwara, where they invoke their ancestors and set bundles of Kaunria sticks alight.

Sky lamps shine through Kartika#

Many Odia homes also raise an akasa deepa, or sky lamp, each evening during Kartika, American Kahani writes. Beside the tulasi chaura, a tall bamboo pole holds an earthen pot with small holes containing a ghee lamp, which stays lit all night.

The sky lamp is generally offered to Damodar, or Krishna, according to American Kahani. Many households also regard it as an ancestral light, raised so ancestors can see it. On Deepavali night, families hold their own flames beneath it.

Diwali observances differ across regions and communities, Mental Floss reports. In Bengal, the festival honors Kali, while in Jainism it marks Mahavira's attainment of nirvana, or liberation. In Sikhism, it celebrates the release of Guru Hargobind Ji from imprisonment.

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