सनातन पुस्तकालय Sanatan Cultural Library

Long before the modern fair, the coast of ancient Kalinga — today's Odisha — was home to merchant mariners called Sadhabas, who used the retreating monsoon winds of Kartika to set sail for Bali, Java, Sumatra, Borneo and Sri Lanka. They carried cloth, rice and fine handicrafts, and returned with spices, camphor and stories; traces of that exchange survive in the cultural threads that still link Odisha and Bali. Kartika Purnima was held auspicious for beginning the voyage, and the women of the merchant households would see the boitas — the great boats — off with lamps and prayers for safe return. Bali Jatra, literally "the voyage to Bali", keeps that memory alive. When the sailing died out centuries ago, the send-off survived as ritual: each Kartika Purnima, Cuttack gathers on the Mahanadi to honour its seafaring ancestors.

The festival begins before sunrise on Kartika Purnima with Boita Bandana, the worship of the boats. Families come to the river, tank or pond carrying small boats made of banana stem, cork, or coloured paper, set with a lit lamp, betel leaves and areca nut, and float them on the water crying "aa ka ma bai, pana gua thoi" — an old formula recalling the holy months of the sailing calendar. Across Odisha the rite is kept at homes and ghats, but Cuttack turns it into a festival on the grandest scale. On the sands of Gadagadia ghat by the Mahanadi, an enormous fair springs up for a week and more: stalls of Odia food (the thunka puri and dahibara aludam are famous), handicrafts, books, rides and cultural stages. It is counted among the largest open-air fairs in eastern India.

The fair itself belongs to Cuttack, but its central rite is beautifully portable. On Kartika Purnima morning, an Odia family in Ottawa can keep Boita Bandana at home: fold a small boat from paper or banana leaf, place a tealight or diya, betel leaf and a coin in it, and float it in a large bowl of water on the balcony or at a safe lakeside spot, remembering the Sadhabas and one's own ancestors who crossed the seas — a resonant thought for immigrant families. November in Ottawa is cold, so the indoor bowl is the practical choice. Many families also watch the Cuttack festivities through live streams and news coverage, and Odia community groups in Canada sometimes organise a Bali Jatra-themed gathering with food stalls on a nearby weekend. Check this site's calendar for the Kartik Purnima date each year.