Nilgiri’s Bali Nayak Khela modified from human sacrifice to pumpkin
Observance of the Durga Puja in Baleswar district of Odisha has over a 500-year-long history with the then Jaleswar ruler Ramchandra Raymahasay believed to be the first to introduce the Saradiya idol ritual in his palace in the year 1508.
The royal family puja subsequently shifted to the laxmannath garh in 1720 and since then the worshipping of Goddess Durga has been conducted uninterruptedly.
Harish Behera, a research scholar on Baleswar culture, said, “It is widely believed that Durga puja began in undivided Baleswar district about 505 years ago with the Raymahasay family initiating it for protection of the kingdom. The family was believed to have been influenced by the Bengali tradition to conduct this Saradiya puja.”
Besides laxmannath, Royal family of Nilgiri has also been observing the puja in a unique way for long, he said.
The ‘Maa Kanak Durga’ temple located inside the Nilgiri palace still has a unique tradition known as ‘Bali Nayak Khela’. Eight days prior to Mahastami, ‘Maa Durga’ comes in a person known as ‘Kalisi’ and is worshipped. According to the history of the royal Mardaraj family, the Kalisi, after being super-imposed, runs through the village and whom she touches is identified as a person to be sacrificed before the goddess on Mahastami day.
Jayant Mardaraj, a descendent of the family who is conducting the puja now, said, “We hear that there was a tradition in which people touched by Kalisi were being sacrificed. But the tradition has been modified from time to time. The person touched by Kalisi was offering a buffalo, then a goat and now it has been limited to a pumpkin.”
“We have stopped goat sacrifice and are offering a pumpkin as a symbolic sacrifice. Now the ‘Bali Nayak Khela’ is being followed five days before the ‘Mahastami’. A large number of people of Nilgiri and the nearby areas participate in the event.
Baleswar has another tradition called ‘Akhada’ in which martial arts and stick and sword movements are organised amidst drum beats on Mahastami and Vijaya Dasami days. The tradition has been in force for over 90 years now.
“The Akhada was initiated in the undivided Baleswar district by former Chief Minister Dr Harekrushna Mahtab way back in 1925 with an objective to foster unity among villagers against the British rule. The other objective was to encourage youths to keep them physically fit and promote competition among themselves,” said Manoj Das, secretary of Akahda’ Association, Baleswar. In the town itself the Durga idols are being worshipped by around 80 puja pandals.