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Chhath Festival (छट पूजा)


Chhath festival, Chhath or Shashthi Puja

This is the only festival celebrated in Bihar or all over India which is going on since Vedic period, it is not just a festival, it is the culture and identity of Bihari’s. It is a Hindu festival celebrated on the sixth day of Kartik Shukla Paksha. This unique folk festival of sun worship is mainly celebrated in the Terai regions of Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nepal. The festival here shows a small glimpse of the Vedic Aryan culture of Bihar, which is mainly celebrated according to the Sun worship, Usha worship and Arya tradition in the Rigveda written by the sages. This festival, celebrated by Hindus in Bihar, is seen celebrating not only Hindus but also religious people of all religions. Gradually, this festival is celebrated not only in India but by the overseas Indians all over the world and this festival is also recognized for being accepted all over the world. Chhath is also considered to be the most eco-friendly Hindu festival. Chhath Puja is dedicated to Surya, Usha, Prakriti, Water, Vayu and his sister Chhathi Maiya to thank and request some good wishes for restoring the deities of life on earth. Chhath is not a gender-specific festival, so a large number of women including men also observe this festival. The rituals of this festival are rigorous and are celebrated over a period of four days. These include holy bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water, standing in water for long periods, and offering prasad and arghya. The fast of Chhath Mahaparva is observed by all men-women-old people - young people.

Beginning and naming of Chhath festival

According to the legend, when the deities were defeated by the demons in the first Devasura war, then Dev Mata Aditi worshiped the sixth Maya in the Sun temple of Devaranya to get a stunning son. Then being pleased, Chhathi Maiya gave him the boon of being a brilliant son with all virtues. After this Aditi's son became the Tridev form Aditya, who gave victory to the gods over the demons. It is said that from that time the name of this Dham became Dev in the name of Dev Sena Shashthi Devi and the practice of Chhath also started. Due to the celebration of this fast on the sixth day of Kartik Shukla Paksha, it was named Chhath Vrat. Chhath Puja is celebrated twice a year, one in Chait month and the other in Kartik month Shukla Paksha Chaturthi Tithi, Panchami Tithi, Shashthi Tithi and Saptami Tithi. Chhath is an important puja for natural beauty and family welfare. . To have a place like Ganga place or river pond in this worship.

Chhath festival of widespread/folk faith

Chhath is a famous festival in India for worshiping the sun. Basically, it is called Chhath because of Surya Shashti fasting. This festival is celebrated for family happiness and prosperity and for getting desired results. Men and women alike celebrate this festival.

Many mythological and folk tales are prevalent in relation to Chhath Vrat:

According to one of the legends, when the Pandavas lost all their royal palaces in gambling, Draupadi kept Chhath fast after being told by Shri Krishna. Then their wishes were fulfilled and the Pandavas got their royal palace back. According to folk tradition, the relation of Sun God and Chhathi Mayya is that of brother and sister. The first worship of Lok Matrika Shashti was done by Surya. According to a belief, Lord Rama and Mother Sita fasted on Kartik Shukla Shashthi on the day of the establishment of Ram Rajya after the Lanka conquest and worshiped the Sun God. On Saptami, the rituals were performed again at sunrise and received blessings from the Sun God. According to another belief, Chhath festival started in the Mahabharata period. First of all, Suryaputra Karna started worshiping the Sun God. Karna was an ardent devotee of Lord Surya. He used to stand in water till waist for hours every day and offer Arghya to the Sun God. He became a great warrior by the grace of Suryadev. Even today this method of offering Arghya is prevalent in Chhath. According to a legend, King Priyavad did not have any children, then Maharishi Kashyap performed Putreshti Yagya and gave Kheer made for sacrifice to his wife Malini. Due to this effect, he had a son but he was born dead. Priyavad went to the crematorium with his son and the son started sacrificing his life in separation. At the same time, Devasena, the psychic daughter of Brahmaji, appeared and said that I am called Shashthi because of being born from the sixth part of the original nature of the universe. Hey! Rajan, you should worship me and inspire people to worship. The king fasted on Goddess Shashti with the desire of a son and he got the son Ratna. This puja was performed on Kartik Shukla Shashthi. Social/Cultural Significance। The most important aspect of Chhath Puja is its simplicity, purity and Lokpaksh. In this festival full of devotion and spirituality, soup made from bamboo, baskets, earthen pots, sugarcane juice, prasad made from jaggery, rice and wheat spreads the rich sweetness of folk life by making prasad and melodious folk songs. Unlike the scriptures, it is a method of worship crafted by the common man in the colors of his customs. At its center is not the scriptures like Vedas, Puranas but farmers and rural life. No special money is required for this fast, nor the worship of a priest or a guru. If needed, the cooperation of the neighborhood, which is happily and gratefully presented for its service. For this festival, the people themselves organize their collective campaigns. The society does not look for the help of the government for the cleanliness of the cities, the management of the passage of the fasting people, the proper arrangement of offering Arghya on the banks of the pond or the river. In this festival, from the festival of Kharna to Ardhyadan, there is an obligatory presence of the society. It is a grand and grand display of the collective work done by the common and poor people in the spirit of service and devotion, forgetting the difficulties of their daily lives.

scientific approach

If Chhath festival is seen from a scientific point of view, there is a special astronomical change on Shashthi Tithi (Chhath), at this time the Ultra Violet Rays of the Sun are collected in more quantity than normal on the surface of the earth, due to this its potential One gets the ability to protect human beings as far as possible from the evil effects. It is possible to protect living beings from the harmful effects of sun (star) light (ultraviolet ray) by observing the festival. Earth's living beings get a lot of benefits from it. Along with the light of the Sun, its ultraviolet rays also come to the Moon and the Earth. When sunlight reaches the earth, it first gets the atmosphere. On entering the atmosphere, it gets the ionosphere. Using ultraviolet rays, the atmosphere synthesizes its oxygen element and converts it into its allotrope ozone. By this process, most of the ultraviolet rays of the Sun are absorbed in the Earth's atmosphere. Only a negligible part of it reaches the surface of the earth. Under normal conditions, the amount of ultraviolet rays reaching the earth's surface is within the tolerance range of humans or organisms. Therefore, it does not have any special harmful effect on humans in normal condition, rather harmful germs are killed by that sunlight, which benefits human beings or life. In astronomical conditions like Chhath (at both ends of the equi-line of the orbits of the Moon and the Earth), the ultraviolet rays of the Sun, some reflected from the lunar surface and some spherically refracted, again reach the Earth in a higher than normal amount. It becomes even more dense at sunset and sunrise, receding from the levels of the atmosphere. According to astrological calculations, this event comes six days after the new moon of Kartik and Chaitra months. Being based on astrological calculations, it has been named as nothing but Chhath festival.

Chhath festival is celebrated for four days.

On the first day, Arva rice made from rock salt, ghee and pumpkin curry is taken as prasad. Fasting begins on the second day. After giving up food and water throughout the day, making kheer from around 7 in the evening, after worshiping, take prasad, which is called Kharna. On the third day, Arghya means milk is offered to the setting sun. On the last day, Arghya is offered to the rising sun. Special care is taken of purity in worship; Garlic and onions are prohibited. Devotional songs are sung in the houses where this puja is performed. At the end, people are given the prasad of the puja.

Nahay Khay (first day)

The first day of Chhath festival, which is known as 'Nahay-Khay', begins with the Chaturthi of Chaitra or Kartik month, Kartik Shukla Chaturthi. First of all the house is cleaned and sanctified. After that, the fasting takes a bath in the Ganges River, a tributary of the Ganges or a pond located nearby. On this day, the fasting people take a bath after cutting their nails, etc., washing their hair thoroughly with clean water. While returning, he brings with him Gangajal which he uses for cooking. They keep their surroundings clean and tidy. The fasting eats food only once on this day. In the food, fasting uses pumpkin vegetable, moong gram dal, rice. Fried puris, parathas, vegetables etc. are prohibited. This food is cooked in a bronze or earthen pot. Mango wood and earthen stove are used for cooking. When the food is prepared, first the fast eats the food, only then other members of the family eat the food.

Kharna and Lohanda (2nd day)

The second day of Chhath festival, known as Kharna or Lohanda, is celebrated on the fifth day of Chaitra or Kartik month. On this day the fasting fast for the whole day. On this day, fasting food is not a matter of far away even a drop of water is consumed before sunset. In the evening, kheer is made using rice jaggery and sugarcane juice. Salt and sugar are not used in cooking. By again giving these two things to the Sun God, they do 'solitude' in the same house, that is, they accept it by staying alone. All the family members go out of the house at that time so that there is no noise. It is against the rules of the festival to hear any kind of sound for the fasting person while eating alone. After eating the fast again, he feeds the same 'Kheer-Roti' to all his family members and friends and relatives. This whole process is called 'Kharna'. Rice pitha and ghee-laden roti are also distributed as prasad. After this, the fasting fast for the next 36 hours observes Nirjala fast. At midnight, Vrati makes special prasad Thekua for Chhath Puja.

Sandhya Arghya (third day)

The third day of Chhath festival, known as Sandhya Arghya, is celebrated on Chaitra or Kartik Shukla Shashthi. Throughout the day, all the people together make preparations for the worship. Special prasad like thekua, rice laddus also known as kachvaniya are made for Chhath puja. For Chhath Puja, a basket made of bamboo called Daura is put in the offerings of worship, fruits and kept in Devkari. After worshiping there, in the evening, taking coconut, five types of fruits, and other items of worship in a soup, keeping it in Daura, the man of the house lifts it with his hands and takes it to the Chhath Ghat. It is not impure so that it is kept on the top of the head. On the way towards Chhath Ghat, women usually go singing the song of Chhath. On the banks of a river or a pond, women sit on a platform made by a member of the household. After removing the soil from the river, the chaura of Chhath Mata remains, keeping all the things of worship on it, offer coconut and light a lamp. Shortly before sunset, taking all the items of worship of the Sun God, standing knee-deep in water and offering Arghya to the setting Sun God, he circumambulates him five times. The ingredients include 'thekua' made from wheat flour made by the Vratis themselves. This thekua is so called because it is made by stumbling the dough of dough on a specially designed firm of wood. In addition to the above dishes, all new tubers-roots, vegetables, spices and grains grown in the fields like sugarcane, molasses, turmeric, coconut, lemon (large), ripe bananas etc. are offered in the month of Kartik. All these things are offered only whole (uncut). Apart from this, to light the lamp, carrying new lamps, new lights and ghee and lighting the lamp at the ghat. The most important grain in this is the grains of Kusahi Kerav (light green black, slightly smaller than a pea) which are brought in the crate but are not offered to Surajdev in the evening Arghya. These are kept safe in the crate to be offered to the rising sun tomorrow morning. Many people stay overnight at the ghat, while some people singing the song of Chhath come home with all their belongings and keep it in Devkari.

Usha Arghya (Last Day)

Arghya is offered to the rising sun on the morning of Kartik Shukla Saptami on the fourth day. Even before sunrise, the fasting people reach the ghat to worship the rising Sun God and their ancestors and relatives are present as in the evening. The dishes offered in Sandhya Arghya are replaced by new ones, but the tubers, roots, fruits and vegetables remain the same. All the rules and regulations are the same as in the evening prayer. At this time only the fasting people face east and stand in the water and do Suryapasana. After the worship is over, the ghat is worshipped. After distributing prasad among the people present there, the fasting comes home and also distributes prasad to his family at home. The fasting people come back home and worship the Peepal tree in the village, which is called Brahma Baba. After the worship, the fasting is completed by drinking syrup of raw milk and eating some prasad, which is called Paran or Parana. The fasting people eat salty food this morning after fasting from Kharna till date.

Chhath song

Many melodious and devotional folk songs are sung on various occasions of the Lok Parva Chhath like making prasad, during Kharna, while going for offering Arghya, at the time of offering Arghya and while returning home from Ghat. • केलवा जे फरेला घवद से, ओह पर सुगा मेड़राय • काँच ही बाँस के बहंगिया, बहंगी लचकत जाए’ • सेविले चरन तोहार हे छठी मइया। महिमा तोहर अपार। • उगु न सुरुज देव भइलो अरग के बेर। • निंदिया के मातल सुरुज अँखियो न खोले हे। • चार कोना के पोखरवा • हम करेली छठ बरतिया से उनखे लागी।

This Post Has 5 Comments

  1. KeyIndia

    wow this is very informative.
    thank you KeyIndia.in team.

  2. Mukesh M

    Nice Sir.
    Tanku for information and to aware of our ancient memories.

  3. Pushu K

    Nice informatio
    Thanku keyindia

  4. Dr Tilak Kumar Sarma

    A very informative post — well written and informative.

  5. Dr Tilak Kumar Sarma

    A very interesting post — well written and informative.

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