Chhath Puja has its origins in the Vedic age and it is often seen to have a connection with the famous Gayatri mantra and the yajna (sacrifice) associated with it. Gayatri mantra, which finds first mention in the Rig Veda, is dedicated to the Savita god i.e. Sun god. Sun is considered as the God of power, radiance and life. By performing this Puja people thank the Sun god for the gifts that he has bestowed upon them.
Chhath means six. Chhath is named so because it is celebrated mainly on the sixth and seventh day of the Hindu month of Kartik. But the whole of Chhath Puja lasts for four days. Like any other Indian festival, it is full of colour, spirit and life.
Chhath being mainly a festival of Bihar, wherever people from Bihar have migrated, they have taken with them the tradition of Chhath. 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, 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.
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 that is simply, 'Bathe and eat'. The worshiper allows herself/himself only one meal on this day from the preparation.
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 that is called prashad in Hindi, is 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, the entire household accompanies the worshiper to a ritual bathing and worship of the Sun God, usually on the bank of a river or a common large water body. The occasion is almost a carnival. Besides the main worshiper, there are friends and family, and numerous participants and onlookers, all willing to help and receive the blessings of the worshipper. Ritual rendition of regional folk songs, carried on through oral transmission from mothers and mothers-in-law to daughters and daughters-in-law, are sung on this occasion. The same bathing ritual is repeated on the following day at the crack of dawn. 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.
Chhath is a very joyous and colorful festival. All the people dress up in their best clothes. Devotional folk songs are sung both at home and on the riverbank. Millions of people gather at the banks of river Ganges in Patna in Bihar to celebrate Chhath. The streets are kept spotlessly clean by volunteers, who also decorate all the streets leading to the river.
The prasad includes sweets and fruit kept in small baskets made of bamboo. The food is strictly vegetarian and it is cooked without salt, onions or garlic. Emphasis on put on maintaining the purity of the food.
The folk songs sung on the eve of Chhath mirror the culture, social structure, mythology and history of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Nowadays, modern Chhath songs, largely Bollywood filmy remixes have caught on, but the old tradition still goes strong with a great degree of sanctity. The three main linguistic regions of Bihar: the Maithili, the Magadhi, and the Bhojpuri, and all the various dialects associated with these, have different folk songs; but all dedicated to Chhath, they have an underlying unity. The minor nuances of the Chhath rituals, such as in the Kharna ritual, vary from region to region, and also across families, but still there is a fundamental similarity. Chhath Puja is currently performed in all parts of India and the world wherever Indian live.
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