Women tie rakhis on trees at Indira Gandhi Park in Bhubaneswar as part of a campaign to save trees on the occasion of Raksha Bandhan and (below) a servitor prepares rakhis at the Jagannath temple in Puri on Thursday.

The festival, also known as Gamha Purnima, has a special significance in the state as on this day, Goddess Subhadra ties the thread of love and trust on her two brothers - Lord Balabhadra and Lord Jagannath - at Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri.

In Bhubaneswar, youngsters were seen celebrating the festival in a colourful manner. Rakhi kiosks that had been set up across the city nearly a fortnight ago did brisk business.

Siblings across the state celebrated the festival in the traditional way. Sisters prepared a puja thali with colourful rakhis, tilak, rice grains, diyas and sweets. They performed aarti, put a tilak on the forehead of their brothers and tied rakhi threads on the wrists.

"My brother gave me a mobile phone, a model I was looking for a long time," said Saloni Sarangi, 16, a Class XII (science) student.

Youngsters flocked to public parks across Bhubaneswar to celebrate. "It is a day when we get together and have fun with friends and siblings", said Rahul Patnaik, 18, a BTech student.

Two students from Utkal University of Culture bagged the honour of having created the world's largest rakhi. Although the two students - Biswant Panda and Yanita Priyadarshini had created the rakhi on August 28 last year - the Limca Book of Records recognised the feat this year. The rakhi was created using organic materials such as cloth, paddy grains and food colour.

It was 50ft in diameter, 500ft in length and cost about Rs 70,000. The students dedicated the rakhi to Lord Jagannath. It was put on display at Indira Gandhi Park in Bhubaneswar.