Interview Times 
Keeping up with the age-old custom, ‘Navanna’ (newly harvested rice) was offered to ‘Maa Samaleswari’-the presiding deity of Sambalpur at the pre-determined ’Lagna’ (auspicious moment) on the occasion of Nuakhai festival today.
The temple priests first completed the Bisesh Gupta Puja or secret rituals. This year, the timing of lagnabela (auspicious moment), offering the first harvested crop was set at 10.56 am.
‘Navanna’ brought by the priests from their homes was offered to ‘Maa Samaleswari’, the principal deity in Western Odisha. Subsequently, the ‘parswa Devi devatas’ (subsidiary deities) in the temple were offered the same.
Following the offering of ‘Navanna’ to the deities ‘Maha Arati’ was conducted and then the doors of the temple were opened for the devotees to have darshan. Devotees in large numbers thronged the temple after a gap of two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Notably, the doors of the temple remain closed for the devotees on Nuakhai in the morning unlike on other days, and only open after ‘Maha Arati’ is conducted.
With the offering of ‘Navanna’ to the Goddess, marking the start of the Nuakhai festival religious fervor and festivity have gripped western Odisha.
Nuakhai is celebrated not only across districts like Kalahandi, Sambalpur, Balangir, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Nuapada, Jharsuguda, Subarnapur, Boudh but also across several areas of Jharkhand.
