The programme titled ‘The Pride and Glory of Bali Yatra’ will be a pictorial display of how the Odia culture has been a significant influence in modern practices and believes in many south-east Asian countries
BHUBANESWAR: A never-before pictorial exhibition of Odia cultural influence in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand, will be held at Lalit Kala Akademi here, Monday.
The programme titled ‘The Pride and Glory of Bali Yatra’ will be a pictorial display of how the Odia culture has been a significant influence in modern practices and believes in many south-east Asian countries.
Odisha, commonly known as Kalinga during ancient times, had a close relationship with many south-east Asian countries. Take for instance, Siam, or the contemporary, Thailand. It is believed that the earliest Indians went to Siam by sea from the Amaravati region of the east coast of India in the early centuries.
The Indian Hindu festivals like Holi, Kartika Purnima, Deepavali, Navaratri and Onam have influenced the Thai festivals such as Songkran, Loy Krathong, Thai-Chinese vegetarian festival, and the Long-Boat race. Kalinga or ancient Odisha had close overseas contacts with Siam.
Dulyapak Preecharushh, a Thai scholar, recently said, “The devastating Kalinga War of Ashoka was the main factor that pushed and stimulated many Kalinga people to emigrate from India to the mainland of south-east Asia. The people of Kalinga migrated via the Bay of Bengal to Burma and to the land of Siam for political asylum and in the hope of a new settlement.”
As Odisha is known for its elephants, the discovery of an ivory comb with ‘Shrivasta’ motif from Chansen in the central Thailand is similar in design like that obtained from the ‘Hathigumpha’ inscription of Kharavela and suggests that the comb was exported from India.
Furthermore, archaeological excavations in the central Thailand have unearthed tangible indicators of ancient Odisha contacts in the form of bronze bowls and carnelian beads, especially, etched carnelian beads.
It is also said that Thailand being bordered on the north by Burma (Myanmar) and Laos, on the east by Laos and Cambodia, on the south by the Gulf of Siam (Gulf of Thailand) and Malaysia; the culture has travelled into these countries also.
Thus, to make people aware about this glorious past, Prakash Panigrahi, Minister of Department of Tourism, Manoranjan Panigrahi, principal secretary, Department of Culture, and Vishal Dev, commissioner-cum-secretary, Department of Tourism, are slated to inaugurate the exhibition in presence of Sidharto Reza Suryodipuro, Ambassador of Indonesia, as Guest of Honour.
Caption
Cuttack’s Baliyatra, said to be the largest fair in Asia, held along the banks of Mahanadi commemorates the trade ties of the Kalinga empire (now Odisha) with Bali and other south Asian countries
The maritime museum at Cuttack gives an insight to the maritime relations Kalinga shared with the south-east Asian countries