After a two-year hiatus, the financial institution of river Mahanadi close to historic metropolis Cuttack has as soon as once more been decked as much as host Baliyatra,  stated to be the largest open air commerce honest of Asia. Not simply in Cuttack, the competition can also be celebrated with nice grandeur in state capital Bhubaneswar and within the port city Paradip.

To draw extra footfalls, the Indian Navy, in a primary, has moved a vessel to Mahanadi. Whereas the competition hoppers may have the alternatives to enter the ship and to get firsthand information in regards to the valour of Indian jawans throughout Indo-Pak conflicts of 1971 from the particular kiosks put up for the aim, the acclaimed Navy Band will likely be performed on the inaugural ceremony.

As all these preparations present, for Odisha, Baliyatra is greater than a industrial congregation. It’s a wonderful reminder of how the marine retailers of erstwhile Kalinga not solely helped within the financial development of their kingdom, additionally they performed key roles in spreading the tradition, custom and faith of the land throughout South East Asian international locations. Thus, Baliyatra, which turns a vacationer vacation spot for over every week yearly, is like each historical past and heritage in movement for the tradition aficionados.

With simply two days to go earlier than the gala occasion, Sunday POST takes a fast look on the historical past and the legends related to the age-old custom.

Sadhabas, the trustworthy businessmen

Sadhabas are an integral a part of Baliyatra, actually which means voyage to Bali, one of many outstanding islands of Indonesia.  The phrase ‘Sadhaba’ is commonly invoked by motivational audio system of their talks and has bought mentions in a number of folklores. However who have been they and what career they belonged to?

In line with some students, Sadhabas are the retailers who have been concerned in abroad buying and selling actions. The phrase ‘Sadhaba’ was derived from two phrases, ‘Sadhu,’ which suggests trustworthy, and ‘Byabasayee’ which means businessmen. Apart from, legend has it that commerce within the Indian sub-continent was managed by two forms of service provider communities – Shreshthis and Sarthavahas.

Shreshthis used to cater to the wants of the native populace whereas Sarthavahas, often called caravan merchants, made transoceanic voyages and controled each the imports and exports. Sarthavahas, later pronounced as Sadhabas, have been primarily the wholesalers or suppliers of the Shresthis. And it’s well-known that Sadhabas performed a vital function in enhancing the prosperity of Kalinga of their instances.

The good Kalingan explorers

The expansion of ports throughout the 4th and fifth century BCE opened a number of home windows for the Kalingans.  Quickly, the sailors from Kalinga established commerce hyperlinks with Brahmadesh (Myanmar) and  a number of island nations like Ceylon (Srilanka), Sumatra, Borneo, Java and Bali (Indonesia). With its wealthy endowment of a wide range of minerals, Kalinga used to export treasured stones like gem, ruby and diamond by means of sea routes to those locations. Numerous designer jewelleries, silk, handloom materials, spices, ivory and stone objects have been additionally a part of their freight.

Stone carvings in Konark recommend that animals as massive as elephants and giraffes have been additionally exchanged between historic Odisha and different nations by means of the ocean routes. The Sadhabas even had commerce ties with China and the Roman Empire as some Roman cash and Chinese language ceramic shreds have been just lately unearthed from completely different components of Odisha.

Talking of the dimensions of their vessels, we all know that the Kalingans constructed boats referred to as the ‘Boitas’ and every of them might carry as much as seven hundred males and animals aboard. Curiously, the Bay of Bengal was as soon as often called the Kalinga Sea because it was thronged by the ships of historic Odisha. The dominance of the Kalingans over the ocean was such that Kalidasa in his Raghuvamsa referred to the king of Kalinga as ‘The Lord of the Sea’.

Financial would possibly, bane of Kalinga

At current, Odisha has a shoreline of about 485 kilometres but it surely was a lot larger in historic instances, virtually half of the japanese shoreline of India comprising bigger components of current day West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. WB’s historic port metropolis Tamralipti (now in East Medinipur) and AP’s Visakhapatnam have been components of the Kalingan empire. Kalinga, with such an unlimited shoreline and flourishing marine actions, emerged as one of many nice maritime and financial powers of its time.

The prosperity of historic Odisha and its management over the ocean have been maybe among the many principal causes that excited Mauryan emperor Ashok to invade the coastal kingdom in third BCE. And the way Kalinga, with its robust and secure financial system, confronted Ashok’s aggression, as they are saying, is now a part of common folklore.

Tamralipti Port and Kalinga Battle

As talked about earlier, Tamralipti was a serious port of japanese India throughout the third Century BC and the Mauryan rulers used to rely upon it for his or her abroad industrial actions. Nonetheless, not many know that it was Tamralipti port below the Kalinga empire that prompted the Kalinga Battle, costing round 2.5 lakh lives.

In line with Debanampriya Priyadarshi Raja Ashok, a historic novel by Amarjyoti Mukherjee, merchants of different states together with Magadh dominated by Ashoka The Nice used to pay toll tax to the Tamralipti port authorities earlier than setting off on an oceanic voyage. In alternate, they might get consuming water and rations for his or her journey. Nonetheless, the authorities on the port instantly imposed extra tax on the merchants of Magadh which enraged Ashoka.

Historical past means that Ashoka had killed most of his brothers earlier than ascending the throne of Magadh. However two of them managed to flee and took shelter in Kalinga. In a bid to avenge the loss of life of different siblings, the duo skilled Kalingan military with Mauryan warfare and ready a military robust sufficient to face the mighty Mauryans in one of many deadliest battles of Indian historical past.

Although the 2 brothers died within the battle and Kalinga misplaced the struggle, it reworked the warmonger Ashoka into an envoy of peace. It’s this Tamralipti port from the place his son Mahendra and daughter Sanghamitra went to Sri Lanka to unfold Buddhism.

Decoding Aa-Ka-Ma-Bai

To reminisce the fantastic previous of historic Odisha, Baliyatra is well known yearly from the day of Kartika Purnima. As per the ritual, Odias, on this present day, float toy boats constituted of banana peels and thermocol reciting ‘Aa-Ka-Ma-Bai, Pana-Gua-Thoi’. Aa-Ka-Ma-Bai connotes the month of Asadha, Kartika, Margasira and Baisakha of Odia calendar.

Whereas the interval from Asadha to Kartika (July- September) was the season of outgoing voyage, the interval from Magha to Baisakha was thought of to be the season of the return voyage. The adventurous Kalingan sailors properly put the advancing and retreating monsoon to one of the best use for his or her outward and return journeys.

Celebration in Bali, Thailand

Baliyatra competition of Odisha has some parallels with the Masakapan Ke Tukad competition of Bali the place related floating of toy boats in reminiscence of maritime ancestors is made. Likewise Loikrathong or LOY Brah Pradip competition of Thailand consisting of ritualistic floating of boats has similarity with the Odishan customs.

Historic corroborations

Greek geographer and astronomer Ptolemy has vividly described the voyage and buying and selling practices of Kalinga sailors in South East Asian oceans in his writings in 2nd Century ACE. Equally, Chinese language Buddhist monk and traveler Hiuen Tsang who travelled India in round 630 AD wrote elaborately in regards to the Kalinga kingdom in his travelogue.

One other Chinese language traveler Fa-Hien additionally talked about in regards to the intimate relationship between China and Kalinga in his journey account.

Finish of wonderful run

The prosperity of Kalinga reached its zenith within the eighth Century AD when the Shailendra dynasty dominated huge swathes of maritime Southeast Asia. In line with Indian scholar Ramesh Chandra Majumdar the dynasty that established itself within the Indonesian archipelago originated from Kalinga. A number of different historians additionally substantiate Majumdar’s declare. So, it establishes that Kalingans had arrange colonies in islands like Java, Sumatra, Bali and Malaya (Malaysia) of their instances. However the emergence of Europeans and unfold of different religions resulted within the fall of Shailendras.

Within the meantime, the maritime commerce of Kalinga confronted mounting challenges as a consequence of altering political scenes in India and that contributed to the dissolution of ties between historic Odisha and Southeast Asian island nations dominated by the Kalinga rulers. The final nail was struck when the Aryas and Brahmans put restrictions on seafaring of Hindus, making this golden chapter of historic historical past solely part of legends and folktales for the Odias.

Bijay Mandal, OP