SACRED FESTIVAL: CHATTH FESTIVAL

Chatth
festival is one of the ancient and sacred festivals which have its origin in
Bihar, Eastern UP & Nepal. It is regarded as one of the sacred festivals
and observed with great devotion and austerity. This festival falls on the sixth day of Diwali as
its name Chatth, which means sixth day. Chhath puja is
performed on Kartika Shukla Shashthi, which is the
sixth day of the month of Kartika in the Vikram Samvat. This festival is dedicated to the Sun God,
“Surya” and Chatthi Maiya, “Usha”, regarded to be the
sister of the Sun god. Sun is the conserver of energy and all life sustains
with this energy, so this festival is in honour of Sun God thanking him for
sustaining life in all forms on the earth, revitalizing  and rejuvenating varied forms of life. 

The third day is Sandhya or Pahla
Arghya (Offerings to the Sun during Sunset): On this day, “Vrati”, the observer
of Chatth along with the other family members are busy throughout the day in
making arrangements of the offerings (Prasad) which is offered. The offerings
include coconuts, Thekua, seasonal fruits, green ginger, radish, and green turmeric
(haldi); the whole stuff is organized in bamboo soops (winnows). There are
several folk songs of Chatthi maiya in local dialects and are sung on all the
four days of this festival.

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There is specialty of Chatth
Thekua (cookies prepared by wheat and jaggery along with dry fruits). The wheat
used for making Thekuas are washed properly and spread in sun to dry and the
family members sit to guard the washed wheat that none touches, it is taken
care that even birds don’t touch the grains, the purity to that extent is
maintained. If by chance anyone touches other than the Vrati & the family
members, it is discarded for use in this festival. It is a bit tough task but
the devotees take care of the same. It is either grounded at home in stone
grinders or in market where this festival is observed, the grinders are cleaned
and washed for this purpose, so the rules are rigid of this festival. Sun god
is revered as the creator and conserver of this Universe and people fear that
if they fault, they would be punished. This Thekua Prasad is unique in taste
and people relish their taste.

The Arghya is either offered near
the banks of rivers, water bodies and ponds and nowadays people offer the
prayers at home  water tank at rooftops or in garden. The “Vrati” bathes
in & stands in water for long hours devoting his prayers to Sun God or
Suryadev.  The prayers are offered to the
setting sun and the people of the family members, neighbors and onlookers help
them willingly and receive the blessings of the worshipper. On river banks, it
looks like a carnival. The river banks and roads to the banks are cleaned and
washed by the local people and the administration. Each measure is taken to
help the Chatth devotees. I hold the view that it is more of a social festival
where every individual readily partakes and the faith is a lot for this
festival. Cleanliness and purity is the main agenda of this festival, it’s my
viewpoint, hope many agrees. My bad habit of taking things in a more logical
way, logic stands between my thought processes.

At the
night of Chhath a vibrant event of Kosi is celebrated by lighting the lamps of
clay diyas under the covering of five sugarcane sticks. The five sugarcane
sticks indicate the Panchatattva (earth, water, fire, air and space) that human
body made of Panchatattva.

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Usha or
Dusra Arghya (Offerings to the Sun during Sunrise): The fourth or
final day of Chatth when prayers are offered to the rising Sun God. Again
people gather on the banks of rivers before sunrise and stand in water till the
sun rises and prayers are offered to the rising sun and seek the blessings of
Suryadev to continue to protect and conserve life and nature. The Arghaya that
is offered is holy river Ganga water or milk.
After offerings prayers, the “Vrati” breaks their fast with the Prasad of
Chatth and consumes vegetarian home cooked food. This festival’s main emphasis
is on cleanliness and purity of the place, the people, the offerings and the food;
it can be briefed as it believes in Cleanliness of the environment on the
whole.

 

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History:  

1.Draupadi
and the Pandavas, rulers of Indraprastha (modern Delhi), performed the Chhath ritual on the
advice of noble sage Dhaumya. Through her worship of the Sun God, Draupadi was not
only able to solve her immediate problems, but also helped the Pandavas later
regain their lost kingdom.

2. Lord Rama of
India and Sita of Nepal had kept fast and offer puja to the Lord Sun in the month of Kartika in Shukla Paksh during their coronation after returning
to the Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. From that time, chhath puja became the
significant and traditional festival in the Hindu religion and started
celebrating every year at the same date in Sita‘s homeland Janakpur and adjoining Indian states of Bihar .

3.
A long time ago, there was a king named, Priyabrat and his wife Malini. They had a married life but they did not had a child, which marred their happiness. They held  a big Yagya aided by Maharishi
Kashyap to be blessed with a child. His wife became pregnant because
of the effect of Yagya. But she gave birth to a dead child after nine
months. King was very sad and contemplated suicide. Suddenly,a
Goddess appeared before him & told him that She was Goddess
Khashti. If someone would offer prayer with pure mind and soul, he would
definitely blessed with a child. The king, Priyabrat followed and was blessed with a
very beautiful and cute child. Since then, people started celebrating the
chhath puja.

Mostly this festival is observed by women in large numbers though men too
observe this festival, the participation of woman folk is more. This festival
is unique in the sense that there is no involvement of “pundit” or “Brahman” in
this festival.

 The traditions are different in families, in
many families, it is carried over by generations to generations and it is not
left in any year whereas in many families, it is optional to observe the
festival. The people of Bihar, UP, and Nepal mostly observe this festival and
the people who don’t observe still participate fully in helping the Chatth devotees, so it is more of a social obligation and each person try to help the
devotees at the most in their reach.

This is the only festival where the significance is more on the setting and the
rising sun, both and even science proves the healing properties of the sun rays
beneficial for human as well as for all life sustaining on earth.

This festival is celebrated with
great reverence and gaiety and the whole society comes as a whole to celebrate
with purity and holy thoughts and in a way, Nature is worshipped with the new
harvest of the season and the Sun, the generator of energy is thanked for
helping in sustaining life on earth.

Happy Chatth to All of You!

May each one of us contribute on our part to maintain the cleanliness of the environment and the sanctity of
this universe.

God Bless All Life On This Earth.