The Baliyatra, an annual celebration of the long-standing trade ties between India and Indonesia, is mentioned by Prime Minister Modi in his speech to the Indian diaspora in Bali on the eve of the G20 summit.
Baliyatra
- One of India’s largest open-air fairs is called Baliyatra/Balijatra, which means ‘voyage to Bali’.
- It is held annually to remember the 2,000-year-old nautical and cultural connections between ancient Kalinga, or what is now Odisha, and Bali and other parts of South and Southeast Asia.
Origin
- The festival’s beginning on Kartik Purnima (the full moon night in the Kartik month) can be dated back more than a thousand years.
- A number of ports were located in the Bay of Bengal, and on this auspicious day, when the winds were favourable for the boats, known as boita, to sail, sadhavas (traders), would typically set off on their journey across the sea.
- The traders would set sail for Sri Lanka (previously Ceylon), Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Java (all known at the time of the expedition as “Yawadvipa”) in order to do trade and expand their cultures.
- According to historians, Kalinga and Southeast Asia frequently traded goods like gold, jewellery, silk, camphor, pepper, cinnamon, and cardamom.
- To celebrate boita bandana, or the worshipping of the boats, thousands of people still sail ornamental small boats fashioned of banana stems, paper, or thermocol throughout Odisha.