The participants are known as the 'Bhoktas'. Only male persons take part in this festival.The total number of days for the festival is 13, 18 or 21 days. Danda begins on an auspicious day before the Chaitra Sankranti or Meru Parba with traditional worship and fasting. The Participants of Danda are called Danduas (also known as Bhoktas) and they pray Goddesses Kali and Shiva during this 13-, 18- or 21-day Danda period. As per Ram Prasad Tripathy's article, it is an ancient festival of the Kalinga kingdom and still alive in and around the ancient Kalinga capital Sampa/Samapa i.e modern day Ganjam District. The Danda Nata festival is being held in the month of Chaitra of every year. Danda Nata or Danda Jatra is one of the most important traditional dance festivals organized in different parts of South Odisha and particularly in the Ganjam District, the heartland of ancient Kalinga Empire.On this day, thousands of devotees used to gather at the Tara Tarini hill shrine and other temples. Mahavishnu Sankranti is also the start of the Odia New Year. Meru Jatra marks the end of the 21-day-long festival of penance named ‘Danda Nata’. Odisha’s Ganjam district administration has banned the Meru Jatra festival and congregations related to it at temples on the occasion of Mahavishub Sankranti on Monday.
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