Boita Bandāna ( boita bandāṇa) also known as Dangā Bhasā ( ḍaṅgā bhasā), is a traditional Odia maritime and naval festival celebrated annually throughout Odisha, India. The name could be translated as "to float ritual boats and worshipping with lighted lamp" and comes from the tradition of making decorated boats, which are then floated on a river as a symbolic gesture of their ancestors' voyage. Boita Bandana takes place in the early morning of Kartik Purnima which is the full moon day in the month Kartika in the traditional Odia calendar. Since it falls on the lunar phase of the solar calendar, the exact date of the festival changes every year. In the Gregorian calendar, the festival usually falls in the month of November. The festival is a celebrated to mark the commemoration on the day when Sadhabas (ancient Odia mariner merchants) would set sail to distant lands of mainland and insular Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka for trade and cultural exchange. A major commemoration of this festival called Bali Jatra is held at Gadagadia Ghata of Cuttack on the banks of Mahanadi river. Etymology The name of the festival is a genesis of two words: Boita and Bandana. Where Boita ( Boita) refers to larger boats and ships that were built in the ancient Kalinga kingdom during their historic era of maritime trade, while Bandana ( bandāṇa) derived from Vandana () refers to the worship with lighted lamp, hence referring to the homage paid to the ancient merchants who made the voyage. Its other name Danga Bhasa is similarly the genesis of two words: Danga (boat) and bhasa (float), which literally means 'the floating of boats'. History The origins of this festival descends from an ancient maritime tradition of merchant trade and voyages across the ocean to different regions of Asia, which was well developed in this region known in ancient times as Kalinga. This ancient maritime tradition is preserved through this festival which celebrates the voyages of their ancestors, to Southeast Asian countries, which include mainly present-day Bali, Java, Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia and all the way to Champa region in Vietnam. Local traditions ascribe the origins of the ritual tradition to around 3rd century BC as Kalinga was a well known powerful maritime power and with strong trading links across the oceans especially during the reign of Maurya empire whose rulers