The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.104

v2.c17.104

**Festivals:**—The festivals celebrated in honour of the divinity are called Yātrās, and of these 14 are reckoned *Pradhāna* or principal, and 12 *Upa* or minor Yātrās. Most of the former correspond pretty closely with the Hindu festivals observed in other parts of India; but the mode of celebrating them is, in some cases, peculiar. Their special peculiarities are dialeted upon in the three principal works relating to the place; namely, the *Kapila Saṃhitā*, the *Ekāmra Purāṇa* and the *Ekāmra Candrikā*, and the following brief notice have been compiled from those works. The latter are local adaptations of Vaiṣṇavite and other rites which are not mentioned in the authorities above named. The year is assumed to begin from the 1st day of the new moon in the month of Mārgaśirṣa (November-December) when the ritual year is said to commence, and the festivals are usually calculated from that date.