BHUBANESWAR, Jan. 14 -- Denizens take religious dips in ponds and rivers to visiting temples and offered special prayers as 'Makar Sankranti' is being celebrated with pomp and grandeur in Odisha.
According to the lunar calendar, when the sun moves from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn or from Dakshinayana to Uttarayana, in the month of Pousha in mid-January, it commemorates the beginning of the harvest season. The days start becoming longer and warmer compared to nights. It thus marks the end of Sharatarutu and the beginning of Hemantarutu.
The Makara Sankranti is regarded as the beginning of an auspicious period because the sun starts its annual shift towards the Earth's northern hemisphere from Makar Sankranti. It is beli...