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In mid-June, as the first monsoon clouds arrive over Odisha, the Raja Parba festival marking the fertility of the earth begins. The three to four-day celebration, primarily observed by Odia Hindus, is rooted in the belief that the Earth, like a woman, undergoes a menstrual cycle.
Raja is derived from “rajaswaalaa”, which means a menstruating woman in Odia. Like the menstrual cycle, which marks the fertility of the human body, monsoon rain makes the soil fertile.
Agricultural activity is halted during the festival, partly in line with the belief that the earth is “impure”, like a woman during her menstrual cycle. Women, especially young, unmarried girls, are relieved of household chores. They wear new sarees and clothes, apply altaa, a red dye, to their feet and gather under mango and banyan trees to swing, sing and celebrate.
The belief of “impurity” carries the weight of stigma, but it is also tied to broader cultural practices that recognise the Earth’s need for rest.
Doctoral researcher Laxman Majhi writes that the festival acknowledges menstruation as a life-affirming process that symbolises the connection between womanhood, fertility and the Earth’s cycles.
Today, Raja Parba is observed across Odisha, including urban areas, where it has gained renewed visibility. The Odisha government officially recognises Raja and the first day, Pahili Raja, is a public holiday. This year, it fell on June 14.
With its deep cultural resonance, Raja Parba offers an opportunity to challenge stigmas and taboos about menstruation. It symbolically celebrates womanhood and fertility, foregrounding the need for dignity and respect in menstrual discourse.
Three days of rest
Historical records are scant, but the festival is likely to have emerged in Odisha’s indigenous society where nature and femininity were deeply intertwined in daily life and ritual.
Speaking over the phone on June 10, media academician Rathindra Mishra said that “Adivasi communities, with their more balanced relationship with nature, observe Raja through rituals focused on fertility, seasons, and collective well-being, rather than purity and pollution.” In contrast, dominant castes often frame the festival around ritual restriction and bodily control.
Raja Parba is similar to the Ambubachi Mela in Assam, which marks the menstruation of the Kamakhya deity, during which temple activities are temporarily suspended.
In the coastal and northern Odisha districts such as Cuttack, Puri, Bhubaneswar, Kendrapara and parts of Jajpur, rituals such as earth worship and preparing pitha, a sweet dish made of coconut, jaggery and rice flour, are central to Raja Parba.
Largely, Raja Parba takes place in stages.
Sajabaaja is the preparatory day when homes are cleaned and meals are cooked. Pahili Raja, the first day, marks the end of summer and invites pause. Mithuna Sankranti, the second and most sacred day, celebrates the arrival of the monsoon.
Baasi Raja, or Bhudaaha, follows with games and leisure. In many households, Sila Silipuaa, the grinding stone, is treated as Basumati, or Earth Mother, and offered turmeric, milk and flowers as part of the Basumati Snana.
Traditionally, during the festival, girls do not cut vegetables, sew, grind grains, or walk barefoot. Any action that might metaphorically or physically disturb the Earth is paused.
After Raja Parba, many villages are known to observe maajanaa, a ritual involving the ceremonial cleaning of village goddesses. After three days of festivity, the final day, Sesa Raja, includes the tradition of baateibaa or “seeing off”. This marks a shift from celebration to work, signalling the beginning of the agricultural season.
Menstruation stigma
The menstruation stigma against women and girls has persisted alongside Raja Parba’s celebration of the earth’s fertility.
Through the mid-20th century, menstruating women were kept secluded in the aatu, a room at the top of a mud house, and given boiled food, according to oral histories and ethnographic accounts referred to by a sociology student in a research paper published in 2022.
This practice has reduced, writes Majhi, with increased access to education, health awareness, and urban migration.
But nearly half of India’s adolescent girls still consider menstruation shameful. According to a research paper that involved a survey of around 1,000 women in Odisha, one-fifth of the respondents keep menstruation a “secret” and nearly two-thirds of women report fear or anxiety during their menstrual cycle.
Many also face restrictions such as being confined, barred from religious activities, or subjected to food taboos. This aligns with the findings of the fifth National Family Health Survey, conducted from 2019-’21, which show socio-economic disparities in menstrual hygiene practices.
As a festival with cultural recognition across the state, Raja Parba has the potential to start a conversation and help challenge the stigma against menstruation.
Raja Parba offers an opportunity to ask if menstruation is to be respected only in the garb of tradition and not in the everyday lives of girls and women.
Aniruddha Jena teaches at Indian Institute of Management, Kashipur.
Sriyanka Sahoo is a Mukhyamantri Research Fellow and PhD Candidate at the Department of Journalism & Mass Communication, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
This article first appeared on Scroll.in
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