The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c17.108

v2.c17.108

4. *Ghṛtakambala Yātrā* or *Mākara Saṃkrānti*, the last day of the solar month of Pauṣa, or the day when the sun enters the sign of *Capricornus*. In Bengal the day is devoted to feasting, as the day of harvest-home, and a great quantity of puddings and cakes made of rice-meal, the counter parts of the Christmas plum-pudding, are consumed. But this is not known at Bhuvaneśvara. There the sacred stone is bathed with 108 pitchers of water brought from the Vindu-Sāgara tank, dressed with a new blanket, and feasted with new rice and all the new produce of the season, resembling in this respect the Navānna ceremony of Bengal, at which new rice is offered to the gods. The latter, however, takes place about six weeks earlier, or at about the time of the Roman Catholic Novana.