Berhampur, March 28: The biennial festival of Budhi Thakurani, popularly known as Thakurani yatra, began here today. The festival will continue till April 27.

The cult of Budhi Thakurani originated along with the establishment of Berhampur town around 1672. The Telugu Lengayat Dera (weaver) community, who came to Mahuri on the invitation of the Raja Saheb of Mahuri, started their Ghata yatra (pot festival) to highlight the divinity of Berhampur's Mahamayee Thakurani.

Dera community chief Kota Chandramani Kubera Senapati led the people of his community to migrate to Mahuri and Berhampur where they continued to pursue their ancestral profession of weaving tussar silk products or patta matha.

The ghata yatra was initiated for the purpose of highlighting the tradition of worshiping Thakurani as well as to use it as a platform for sales promotion of their silk products.

The date of the Thakurani yatra was fixed by the yatra management committee and the district administration gave its nod to the festival. Budhi Thakurani is considered the daughter of Desi Behera and the deity stays with her father's family during the period of the yatra.

Elaborate security arrangements have been for the yatra. Ten CCTV cameras have been installed at the yatra site. A total of 142 police officers, including 52 special officers, and 12 platoons of police force have been deployed in the town. Berhampur police superintendent Sarthak Sarangi discussed security arrangements with police officers and supervised the security arrangements today.

During the yatra, the devotees enact roles of Krishna, Balaram, Radha, Ram, Sita, Hanuman, Shiv, Parvati, Durga, Kachara, Gajia, Jilapi (another incarnation of Lord Krishna), Dahani (witch), demons and many others.

In most cases, children below five years of age dress up as these characters. They go around the city on foot, bicycles, rickshaws and motorcycles.