Chhath festival

Come the fourth day of the “Shukla Paksh” of Kartik month, lakhs of devotees, mainly of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, begin the four-day Chhath festival. Today, lakhs of Biharis settled in other parts of India and even abroad are also keeping up this tradition. In fact, this is the only Hindu festival that is also celebrated by Muslims in some parts of Bihar, in a rare symbol of secularism. 

In the four-day festival, the first day begins with the ritual bathing in the Ganga that follows a period of abstinence and segregation of the worshipper from the main household for four days. Gangajal is brought to the house in huge brass containers for use during the four-day period. All utensils used during rituals are that of brass. 

On the first day, arwa chawal (fine rice), kaddu (bottle gourd), the price of which at times even escalates to Rs. 50-100 a kg and “bajka” of the augustya flower is cooked in the day time. All households where Chhath is performed is emptied of onion and garlic, considered “ashuddh”. At night, roti and plain vegetables are cooked for the whole household. 

On the second day-Kharna or Lohanda- the “Parvaitin” (the fasting person) fasts and does not take even a drop of water. A huge quantity of “prasad”, mainly “kheer” (rice cooked in jaggery and without milk) and “puris”are cooked from the afternoon, on earthen chulhas. The fuel used for these chulhas is dry twigs of the mango trees. In some households, rotis laced with ghee are prepared which are served to visitors with kheer as prasad. After sunset, the parvaitin prays to Chhathi Maiya in seclusion and then eats the prasad. The parvaitin then fasts, without food or water, for the next 36 hours. 

The third day begins with the fasting woman cooking the “thekuas” and decorating the bamboo-knit “soops” with whole coconuts, diyas, soaked gram, apples, kasar (made of powdered rice, black sesame seeds and jaggery), thekuas, dry fruits, besides tall sugarcane sticks and entire stalks laden with ripe bananas for offering as arghya to the “Astachalgami Surya”. 

Then begins the long march to the banks of rivers and ponds. Hundreds of people can be seen standing along the riverside waiting to offer obeisance to the Sun God. The fasting women then stand in waist-deep water to offer “arghya” to the setting sun (Astachalgami Surya). The family members offer Gangajal mixed with milk, as the parvaitin performs “parikrama” for the number of soops. With each newborn child is added an extra soop. 

The fourth morning, at dawn, the parvaitin again offers arghya to the “Udit Surya” (rising sun) with the same set of soops. It is only after this that the parvaitin breaks her fast with the prasad. 

In Patna, the banks of the Ganga form one of the most important venues for the arghya ritual. Sun temples of Bihar-Deo in Aurangabad, Dakshinaarka in Gaya, Baraaka in Nalanda district and Punyark or Pandarak in Patna district also witness a heavy rush of devotees during the four-day festival.

This year's festival of Chhath concluded this morning with devotees worshiping the rising Sun. Rivers and ponds in Bihar came alive with bursting of crackers and holy songs reverberated in the air as devotees offered 'arghyas' (obeisance) to the rising Sun. The 'bratis' (who keep fast) took a holy dip into the water on ghats prepared along the rivers and ponds at dawn and performed the rituals till the Sun God came up. Women in colourful sarees applied vermillion to each other. The traditional 'thekuas' cooked in pure ghee and made with sugar, raisins and flour were offered to 'Chhati Mata' along with coconuts, fruits and sugarcanes.

The previous evening devotees, mostly women, had paid their obeisance to the setting Sun in the similar manner.  Attired in new clothes, they sang folk songs as they prayed to the sun god and set lit earthen lamps afloat on rivers, lakes and other water bodies. Roads and river banks had been cleaned and decorated for the occasion.

The participation by the whole community to keep the surroundings as well as paths taken by devotees to reach the water bodies clean is really very encouraging. I wish if the same spirit could be shown to generally keep our neighbourhood clean and tidy. Also can we not think of mobilising the community to undertake such activities on these occasions which may have some long lasting value? Instead of decorating roads with thousands of temporary lights, it may be better to do the street lighting ( where these are non existent) with some durable fixtures, in consultation with municipal authorities, every year. Again why to indulge in wasteful bursting of fire crackers which also adds so much to pollution of all kinds? 

Cheers to the spirit of Chhath...