Nuakhai Juhar | UPSC

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Nuakhai Juhar | UPSC | Why In The News?

About Nuakhai Juhar Festival :

  • Nuakhai Juhar is the harvesting festival of Odisha. 
  • Nuakhai is a combination of two words, ‘nua’ meaning new and ‘khai’ means eat, it thus signifies “eating of new rice”.  
  • People worship food grain on this auspicious day.  
  • The farmers offer the first produce from their lands to Goddess Samaleswari, the famous mother goddess of Sambalpur district of the state.
  • It is observed on panchami tithi (the fifth day) of the lunar fortnight of the month of Bhadrapada (August–September), the day after the Ganesh Chaturthi festival.

This is the festival of : 

  • Western Odisha
  • Southern Chhattisgarh
  • Adjoining areas of Simdega (Jharkhand).
  • Its coastal counterpart is Nabanna, observed in Coastal Odisha.

Festive Activities:

  • Farmers offer the first produce from their lands to Goddess Samaleswari, the famous ‘Mother Goddess’ of Sambalpur district of Odisha.
  • Sambalpuri dance forms like Rasarkeli and Dalkhai can be witnessed.

Historical Evolution Of Festival : 

  • Nuakhai festival traces its origin to the Vedic period in Panchyajna.
  • One among them was Pralambana yajna which means the cutting of new crops and offering them to the mother goddess.
  • Oral tradition of this festival dates back to the 12th century A.D. when this festival was celebrated by Chauvan Raja Ramai Deo, Bolangir district of Odisha.

Questions And Answers Based On Nuakhai Juhar :

Q1 – In Which Of The Following State Nuakhai Johar festival Is Celebrated ?

  1. Odisha
  2. Assam
  3. Sikkim
  4. Tripura

Q 2- Nuakhai Festival is Related To _

  1. Soqing Of New Crops
  2. Harvesting Of New Crops
  3. Makar Sankranti
  4. All Of The Above

 

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