Overview
- President Droupadi Murmu posted greetings Sunday, saying Raja celebrates the earth, womanhood and the coming monsoon and urging people to live in harmony with nature.
- Governor Hari Babu Kambhampati and Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi also issued statements stressing the festival's message of environmental protection and Odia identity, and the chief minister noted a leave provision for women workers.
- Across Bhubaneswar and rural areas, women and girls took part in traditional rituals such as swinging on public doli swings, preparing Poda Pitha, and exchanging sweet betel leaves known as Mitha Paan.
- Agricultural work is traditionally halted for three days because the land is said to 'rest' during Raja, and the fourth-day ritual Basumati Snana marks the ceremonial bathing of the earth and the resumption of farming.
- This year's celebrations were buoyed by arriving monsoon showers and cooler temperatures, a pairing that reinforced Raja's ecological theme and that will lead local communities to begin sowing once Basumati Snana is performed.