Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28 -- By Binit Kumar Bhoi

In Odisha, on the full moon of the month of Shravan, something extraordinary happens that would seem unusual in most parts of India. Farmers gather their cattle. They bathe the animals carefully. They decorate them with flowers. They feed them the best food available. And then, with the same solemnity with which brothers and sisters exchange threads of protection elsewhere in India, they tie sacred threads around the horns of their cows and oxen.

This is Gamha Purnima, and it exists as a testament to a relationship so fundamental to human survival that it deserves to be honored with the same reverence as family bonds.

The story of Gamha Purnima begins with understanding who Balabhadra is. Bal...