A week after Diwali, the festival of lights, comes the festival Chhath. For one night and day, the people of Bihar practically live on the banks of the river Ganga when a ritual offering is made to the Sun God.
The word Chhath denotes the number 6 in Hindi and the festival begins on the sixth day of the Hindu lunar month of Kartik, which corresponds to months of October-November in the Gregorian calendar. The festival of Chhath begins a week after Diwali. Chhath is the holiest Hindu festival of Bihar and extends to four days. This festival has particular significance in Bihar, but it is also celebrated in Uttar Pradesh and nearby areas. Even in Mumbai, the migrants from the north celebrate Chhath beside the sea beach.
Chhath festival in Patna 1800 AD
Chhath is a festival dedicated to the Sun God, considered to be a means to thank the sun for bestowing the bounties of life in earth and fulfilling particular wishes. Worship of the sun has been practiced in different parts of India, and the world from time immemorial. Worship of sun has been described in the Rig Veda, the oldest Hindu scriptures, and hymns praying to the sun in the Vedas are found.
In the ancient epic Mahabharata, references to worshipping of the sun by Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas, are found. It was believed that worshipping of the sun would help cure a variety of diseases, including leprosy, and also ensure longevity and prosperity of the family members, friends, and elders. It is also believed that Chhath was started by the great Danveer (alms giver) Karna, sired by the Sun God, who became a great warrior and fought against the Pandavas in the Mahabharata war.
Chhath--- at time of Sunrise
CELEBRATIONS
It's also called Dala Chhath - it is an ancient and major festival. It is celebrated twice a year: once in the summers (May-July), called the Chaiti Chhath, and once in the winters (September-November)around a week after Deepawali, called the Kartik Chhath. The latter is more popular because winters are the usual festive season in North India, and Chhath being an arduous observance, requiring the worshippers to fast without water for more than 24 hours, is easier to undertake in the Indian winters.
Decoration of a Pond on the eve of Chhath
The celebrations of the days are as follows: on the day before the actual worship, devotees take a cleansing dip, preferably in the Ganges, and bring back some holy water to prepare the offerings. A fast is observed for the whole day and late in the evening, the devotees, after performing worship at home, break their fast. The offerings -typically a rice porridge, puris (deep fried puffs of wheat flour) and bananas - are shared among family and visiting friends and relatives. On the second day, the 24-hour fast begins. The day is spent in the preparation of offerings at home and in the evening, the devotees move to a riverbank (or a pond). There, offerings are made to the setting sun. At nightfall, the devotees return home where another colorful celebration takes place. Under a canopy of sugar cane sticks, clay elephants containing earthen lamps, and containers full of the offerings are placed. There the fire god is worshipped. Devotees maintain a strict fast without even water. Just before sunrise, the devotees reach the riverbank again and offer prayers to the rising sun. Once the prayers are done, the devotees break their fast with the prasad or the offerings. After that, the prasad is distributed among family, friends and anyone who asks for it. The offerings characteristically consist of deep-fried and sweet rolls of stone ground wheat flour, grapefruit, whole coconuts, bananas, and grains of lentils. During the puja, these items are contained in small, semicircular pans woven out of bamboo strips called soop.
Chhath is a very colorful festival and new clothes are a must for the devotees. There is much music and a lot of singing of folk and devotional songs, both at home and on the riverbank. In Patna, millions of people throng the banks of the river Ganges for miles and the camaraderie this festival evokes is unparalled.
Chhath is a very colorful festival and new clothes are a must for the devotees. There is much music and a lot of singing of folk and devotional songs, both at home and on the riverbank. In Patna, millions of people throng the banks of the river Ganges for miles and the camaraderie this festival evokes is unparalled.
RITUALS
This is a ritual bathing festival that follows a period of abstinence and ritual segregation of the worshiper from the main household for four days. During this period, the worshiper observes ritual purity, and sleeps on the floor on a single blanket. The main worshipers, called Parvaitin (from Sanskrit parv, meaning 'occasion' or 'festival'), are usually women. However, a large number of men also are the main worshiper. The parvaitin pray for the well-being of their family, for prosperity and offspring. They usually can perform Chhath only if it is passed on to them from their older generation. However, once they decide to do it, it becomes their duty to perform it every year, the festival being skipped only if there happens to be a death in the family that year.
The women --worshiping GOD SUN
On the eve of Chhath, houses are scrupulously cleaned and so are the surroundings. One the first day of the festival, the worshiper cooks a traditional vegetarian meal and offers it to the Sun God. This day is called Naha-Kha (literally, 'Bathe and eat'!). The worshiper allows herself/himself only one meal on this day from the preparation.While the younger women and children take over the everyday household chores, these women begin with a thorough spring-cleaning of all the things that would be used to prepare the prasad or food offerings to the Sun God. Everything, from the kitchen chulha to the ladles, cooking wok, and, frying pan, is purified.
It is the bounty of the harvest, which is deemed a fit offering to the Sun god. Newly pounded rice is soaked and made into a paste. Dry fruits, nuts and slivers of coconut are used as flavoring and the cooked lump is then rolled in the palms, into hardened laddoos. Wheat flour becomes the main ingredient for the traditional cake called thekuwa. The dough is cut into shapes or pressed into wooden moulds before they are fried a crisp deep brown, to be eaten as a crumbling mouthful. Generous amounts of clarified butter, oodles of jaggery and coconut shavings go into this equivalent of the cookie.
On the second day, a special ritual, called Kharna, is performed in the evening after Sun down. On this day also, the worshiper eats his/her only meal from the offerings(Prashad)made to the Sun God in this ritual. Friends and family are invited to the household on this day to share the prashad of the ritual. From this day onwards, for the next 36 hours, the worshiper goes on a fast without water.
The evening of the next day,all the preparations are complete and a solemn atmosphere prevails. Accompanied by chorus renditions of traditional devotional songs, the procession, which begins as a small group at a doorstep, becomes a surging crowd of devotees as one nears the riverbanks. In the procession, men carry the prasad in a basket of bamboo weaves. The basket is held high above the crowds' hands for the fear of it being soiled by a chance impure touch. Within it are the laddoos, thekuwas and of course the fruits of the season. Coconuts, a bunch of bananas, an orange or two and always an earthen lamp, covered with a cotton cloth, dyed in turmeric, are the unchangeable contents.
Offering made by devotees on this Day
No one tells the hour of prayer but, almost magically, the procession is timed to accuracy and the prayers are offered at the moment the Sun sets. On the banks of the river, no one can afford to slip or falter, as that would mean an evil portent. As the western sky of early winter turns rosy, the scene is a concerted vision of devotion as countless up-stretched arms hold aloft the glistening bamboo trays and baskets. The veiled oil lamps are gently glowing and a chorus of hymns rings the air. Minutes pass, and the faces become blurred as the crowd begins the walk back, leading away from the riverfront.
Having paid homage to the setting sun, the next day, one must make ready for the daybreak obeisance. This is the crucial part of the ritual and the journey towards the river begins when not even the slightest hint of sunlight is visible. It is a mahogany black sky outside as the festival falls during the dark phase of the moon. One can tell when the riverbank is near from the smell of dew soaked grass and lapping of water. This time the faces turn eastward and instead of just standing on the riverbank, the devotees enter the water for the customary holy dip. In the meantime, the baskets are left securely under a temporary canopy, made of freshly harvested sugar cane stalks. A four-sided platform is made especially for this with its corners decorated with terra cotta lamps shaped like elephants or birds. Sandalwood paste, vermilion, wet rice, flowers and fruits, covered over with red dyed cotton cloth, to ward off evil designs and spirits, add the right note of sanctity. Once the first streaks appear on the horizon, men and women, dressed in their saris and dhotis (loin cloth) plunge into the shallow waters. Having found a foothold and completely oblivious of the chilling waters, they begin the timeless mantra of the Rig Veda, specific to the Sun-the Gayatri Mantra.
The Sugarcane canopy used in this eve
This is when the worshipper breaks his/her fast and finishes the ritual.Chhath being celebrated at the crack of the dawn on a river bank is a beautiful, elating spiritual experience connecting the modern Indian to his ancient cultural roots.
Some Photographs Related to this Eve:
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