Raja Parba, also known as Mithuna Sankranti, is a three-day-long festival of womanhood celebrated in Odisha, India. The second day of the festival signifies beginning of the solar month of Mithuna, from which the season of rains starts.
Girls swinging on Raja swing
Murtis of Bhudevi and Sridevi (Bhumi and Lakshmi) at Nayagarh, below Jagannath (far right).
Bhumi, also known as Bhudevi and Vasundhara, is a Hindu goddess who is the personification of the earth. She is a consort of Varaha, an avatar of the deity Vishnu. According to Vaishnava tradition, she is the second consort of Vishnu, along with Sridevi and Niladevi. According to Hindu mythology, Varaha, the third avatar of Vishnu, saved her from the asura Hiranyaksha and later married her, making her one of his consorts. She is regarded as the mother of Narakasura, Mangala, and Sita.
Idol (murti) of Bhumi at a temple in Tamil Nadu
Bhudevi seated on Varaha's lap.
Sita entering the Earth with her mother Bhumi after a feud with her husband Rama.