There always exists a special relation between the lord and his devotees. Similarly there also exists a special relation between lord Shiva and his devotees. The ways of worshipping lord Shiva has remained different for all times. The lord and his devotees are tied so strongly with the bond of devotion and emotion that the relationship always has remained as one among the strongest one. Lord Shiva who is otherwise known as Ashutos always gets pleased very quickly again he never harasses his devotees and he never makes any late in granting blessings to them. Thus the devotees worship lord Shiva with devotion and they also get ready to accept any sort of pain for worshipping lord Shiva with a strong determination.

Probably such type of strong determination is reflected in the deeds of Lord Shiva’s devotees when they come forward for a Bolbum walk. In this worship the devotees express their devotion towards lord Shiva by carrying water for him. As Lord Shiva is called Gangadhar that is why it is believed that the lord gets pleased if water is dropped on his head. Thus the devotees of lord Shiva, with much affection in their heart for the lord, bring water from faraway places to different temples of Lord Shiva. While bringing the water they cover the distance by walking and they maintain purity. With the water they walk miles to rich to the temple of their loving Bholababa. It is a notable fact that in this worship the barrier of caste or sex is not considered. The devotees walk miles by singing the devotional songs of lord Shiva and at each step they express their devotion towards the lord.

The tradition of Bolbum is observed mostly in the Mondays of the Oriya month of Shravana and the devotees mostly getting wet in rain carry the water pots to the temples of lord Shiva according to their desire. Again at the same time it is believed that the tradition has reached to Orissa from north India but In Orissa the devotees mostly carry water to many famous temples of their loving Bholababa. At the same time it also can be said that though it is believed that the Bolbum culture has reached to Orissa from north India but Shiva culture is quite rich and popular in Orissathat is why there are a number of temples of Lord Shiva which are famous at the same time the shave culture which is popular since the time of Ganga dynasty has also established many temples of lord Shiva. It is believed that only the temple city Bhubaneswar the capital city of Orissa bears one lakh Shiva Lingas. Similarly the other places of Orissa are also proud to have famous Shiva temples of Orissa to which the devotees walk for the purpose of observing Bolbum. The famous temples to which the devotees carry water are the Lingaraj temple of Bhubaneswar, the Chandrashekhar temple of kapilash, the Lokanath temple of Puri, the Dhabaleswar temple of Cuttack, the Gupteshwar temple of Koraput, the Akhandalamani temple of Bhadrak, the Panchulingeshwar temple of Baleshwar, the Ladu Baba of Sharanakul and many other temples too. It is really interesting to watch the devotees walking ahead forgetting all the pains of walking long distance chanting the names of Lord Shiva with devotion in heart. Thus the Bolbum is a unique expression of devotion and it always teaches the equality among human beings and devotion for lord in the heart of human beings.