The age -old martial art and other rural sports, which were almost a traditional hallmark of Raja, Dussehra, Kali Puja, Rath Yatra and other festivals, seem to be dying a slow death in Jajpur district and its nearby areas. The ever increasing reach and popularity of cable television also plays a role in this. But in villages like Khanditara, Balichandrapur, Chatia and Nalipur, the villagers organised a three-day Raja festival where many villagers exhibited their traditional martial art and other sports.
Many villagers used to practise wrestling, sword fighting, Paika Akhada, Bagudi, horse dance and Kabadi in earlier times. But presently, this is rarely done as the younger generation lacks their rudimentary knowledge and is lured away by the television, preferring to watch sports. The village committee members of Bagada organized the ancient sports, including martial art, to revive art forms.
The three-day long martial sports attracted thousands of people on the occasion. “Raja festival is also called as monsoon festival as the farmers start cultivation after the festival. Each year, monsoon generally reaches Odisha in the first week of June. But the delay of the arrival of monsoon this year dampened the spirit of Raja. But the villagers celebrated the Raja festival by organizing rural sports,” said social activist Dr Manzoor Alli.
According to Pitambar Nayak of Balichandrapur , “We organised competitions for Kabadi, Bagudi and wrestling ,sword-fighting and other traditional martial arts to encourage youths’ participation.” Around 70 youths of seven blocks of the district participated in Kabadi , Bagudi, sword-fighting and other rural sports and the events drew thousands of spectators. The craze of cricket is the main reason behind the untimely death of many rural sports in the State, said social worker of Muralipur Prabhuranjan Satpathy.
According to renowned historian Dr Basudev Das many interesting legends surround the origin of the arts here. To defend Hindu religion during the Mogul rule, many persons learnt martial art to fight Muslim invaders. These martial art practices have percolated down the generations through family patronage. Their popularity is on a wane, but for the efforts of village committee of Bagada and Itipur who are trying for their revival. It is high time these unique art forms were patronised by the Government. But the district administration has been paying only lip service towards the age- old art forms, said Malaya Mallick, a sword-fighter of Balichandrapur.