Ritesh Bhattacharjee
(The writer can be reached at ritesh.bhattacharjee@rediffmail.com)
Chhath Puja is performed with devotional fervor on the sixth day of the lunar month of Kartikeya in the Hindu Vikram Sambat calendar. This falls typically in the month of October or November. The exact date of the festival is decided by Central division of Janakpurdham in Nepal which is applicable all over the world.
It is also celebrated in the summer (March–April) on Chaitra Shashthi, some days after Holi, and is called Chaiti Chhath. However, Chhath Puja on Kartika Shasthi is more popular because winter is the usual festive season in Nepal and in North India. Moreover, Chhath Puja, being an arduous observance, requires worshipers to fast without water for around 36 hours continuously, and is therefore easier to undertake in winter.
The word “chhath” means sixth in Nepali, Maithili, and Bhojpuri languages; this word is a Prakrit descent from the Sanskrit word “shashthi”. This festival is the longest and the most important festival of Hindus after the Navratri. It lasts for 4 days.
It is said Chhath Puja is the oldest festival that may even precede the ancient Vedas, as the Rigveda contains hymns of worshipping the Sun and some similar rituals as followed in this festival. These rituals also find mention in the Mahabharata where Draupadi is portrayed performing similar rituals. On the advice of astute Dhaumya, the rituals of Chhath were followed by the Pandavas and Draupadi. This worshipping of the Sun solved many problems of Draupadi and later helped the Pandavas regain their kingdom.
It is also believed Chhath Puja was started by Karna, the son of Surya. Surya putra Karna ruled over Anga Desh (present-day Bhagalpur district of Bihar) during the Mahabharat Age. He was a great warrior and fought against the Pandavas in Kurukshetra War
The scientific or yogic history of this festival dates back to the Vedic times when the scholars or rishis of yore used this technique to remain without food as they used to absorb energy from the rays of the Sun. This was known as Chhath method. Some ancient also suggest that Lord Rama and wife Sita kept fast and offered puja to the Sun in Kartika month during Shukla Paksha (bright lunar half) during their coronation after returning to Ayodhya from exile.
Chhath Pujais dedicated to the Sun god and his younger consort Usha as an acknowledgment for life on Earth. There is no idol worship at all in this festival! Some Muslims also celebrate Chhath. As there is no idol worship, so there is no use of plastic, color, metals, etc. in constructing idols and later immersing those in water bodies which causes pollution. That’s why this festival is regarded as the most eco-friendly Hindu festival by environmentalists.
Sun god Surya, considered the god of energy and the life-force, is worshipped during the Chhath festival to endorse well-being, prosperity and progress. In Hinduism, Sun worship is supposed to cure a variety of diseases, including leprosy, besides ensuring the longevity and prosperity of family members, friends and elders.
Along with Sun God, the goddess worshipped during Chhath Puja is known as Chhathi Maiya. She is also known as Usha in the Vedas and believed to be the beloved younger consort of Surya. In Mithilanchal region, she is also worshipped in the name of ‘Rana Mai’. Usha is the term used to refer to dawn — the first light of day. But in Rig Veda, she has more symbolic meaning. Symbolically, Usha is the dawn of divine consciousness in the individual aspirant.
Both Usha and Pratyusha, consorts of the Sun god, are worshipped along with Surya in Chhath Parva. Usha (literally, the first sun-ray) is worshipped at the crack of dawn on the last day and Pratyusha (the last sun-ray of the day) is worshipped in the evening by offering water or milk to the rising and setting sun, respectively. During Chhath Puja, Chhathi Maiyya is invoked to bless us with this divine realization which will help us to overcome all the troubles in the world — such a blessing will help us to achieve moksha or liberation.
The rituals of the festival are arduous and are observed over a period of four days. The rituals are — holy bath, fast and abstaining from drinking water called vratta, standing in water for long period and offering prashad (prayer offerings) and arghya to the setting and rising Sun. Some followers also perform a prostration march as they head for the river banks.
The main worshipers, called Parvaitin (from the Sanskrit word parv, meaning ‘occasion’ or ‘festival’), are usually women. However, a large number of men also observe this festival. The parvaitin pray for the well-being of their family, and for the prosperity of their offspring. Once a family starts performing Chhath Puja, it is their duty to perform it every year and to pass it on to the following generations. The festival is skipped only if there happens to be a death in the family that year.
The prashad offered during Chhath Puja include sweets, kheer, thekua, rice, laddoo and fruits like bananas, sugarcane and sweet lime. It is traditionally prepared with rice, wheat, fresh fruits, dry fruits, nuts, jaggery, coconut and heaps of clarified butter or desi ghee. The food of Chhath Puja is highly nutritious and full of fibers and proteins. These ingredients are carried in a small bamboo winnow. The food items eaten during this festival are purely vegetarian without onion, garlic, and salt.
Apart from the religious significance of thanking the Sun for providing a good life, there is some science attached to the rituals. These involve praying and standing at the river bank for long hours. The ultraviolet rays of the Sun are at their lowest during sunrise and sunset and that’s why the sunrays are most beneficial at these two times. These sunrays then help in detoxifying the mind, body and soul by removing all negative energies.
Nahay Khay, the first day of Chhath Puja starts exactly 4 days from Diwali. On this day, the people who observe fast first take bath at a river or pond and then prepare lunch consisting of rice, dal or lentils mixed with pumpkin and made in pure ghee or clarified butter. This kaddu bhaat along with chana dal is cooked in mud or bronze utensils in the flame of mango wood on a mud stove. The women who fast on this day take only one meal.
Lohanda and Kharna, the second day is tougher one as devotees have to observe fast for the whole day, which can be broken after sunset. Thereafter, the Parvaitins cook the prashad on their own and the menu includes kharna or kheer and chapattis. After having this prashad, the devotees have to fast for 36 hours and that too without water.
Sandhya Arghya, the third day is spent by devotees preparing the prashad at home. In the evening, the entire household of the vratins accompany them to the river bank. The devotees maintain ‘nirjal vrata’ or fast without even taking a drop of water on the third day. People are seen wearing good clothes and at the river banks, they offer their prayers to the setting sun. The ladies wear yellow coloured clothes, singing folk songs. The devotees offer arghya consisting of fruits and sweets in a winnow to the setting Sun.
Usha Arghya being the final day, the devotees wake up early and go to the riverbank again before sunrise, where they offer prayers. Chhath Puja ends when the vratins break their 36-hours fast called Paran. Thereafter relatives visit each other’s home to share prasad.
In the present age, Chhath Puja is celebrated mostly in India and Nepal. The States of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh in India and the Madhesh region of Nepal generally celebrate this festival with huge enthusiasm. But people who have shifted their base from these regions too celebrate this festival, so one can see Chhath Puja performed in northern, southern and central urban centers across India. Similarly, people of Indian or Nepalese origin residing in Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa, USA, UK, Republic of Ireland, various parts of the Caribbean, Australia, New Zealand, Macau, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia too celebrate Chhath Puja with great devotion.