Damanaka Ropana Dvadasi

Damanaka Chori or Dayanalagi

The following days the following is observed in Jagannath Puri.

This festival is celebrated on the thirteenth and fourteenth days of the bright fortnight of Chaitra (April). Deities of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna are taken in procession to the Jagannath Ballava Math. There the Deities get Their Dayana leaves from the garden at the math. On the fourteenth, the leaves are offered to Lord Jagannath, Lady Subhadra and Lord Balarama.

"Damanaka is a particular type of flowering tree, Artemisia indica. In modern Oriya it is called da-aNA. It is one of the two favorite flowers of Lord Jagannath, the other being campaka. It is said that Lord Jagannath comes to the Jagannath Vallabh garden in Puri to steal these flowers. Aropana means to plant. On this dvAdazI there is a ritual planting of the da-aNA tree."