Odisha’s two most famous festivals — Rath Yatra and Bali Jatra — have been included in the “National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage” of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.

The development was announced by the chief of the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA), Arabinda Padhee.

Sharing the list on his X handle, Padhee wrote: “Very excited to learn that the Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s apex cultural body under the ministry of culture, government of India, has listed Rath Yatra and Bali Jatra from Odisha in its National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage.”

Padhee said the SJTA had recently submitted the nomination dossier to the Union ministry of culture for UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity recognition for Rath Yatra.

“With this first milestone achieved, we eagerly anticipate the grand spectacle’s inscription onto UNESCO’s final list,” Padhee wrote.

The National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) aims to recognise the diversity of Indian culture embedded in its intangible heritage. It seeks to create awareness of various intangible cultural heritage elements from different states at the national and international levels and ensure their protection.

The Rath Yatra of the Shree Jagannath Temple in Puri marks the annual sojourn of Lord Jagannath and his siblings from the 12th-century shrine to the Shree Gundicha Temple, 2.5km away, where they stay for a week before returning to their abode.

Bali Jatra, on the other hand, recalls Odisha’s great maritime tradition and commemorates the era when traders from the state set sail to islands like Bali, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo in Indonesia and Malaysia. It is held on the banks of the Mahanadi on Kartik Purnima, as per the Odia almanac (generally in November), in Cuttack to celebrate Odisha’s maritime glory.