Chhath Puja is one of the oldest and most revered Hindu festivals in India, mainly practiced in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and other areas that have a large population from these states. It is due to its bizarre rituals and stringent customs to worship Surya, the Sun God along with his wife Usha. The festival is for four days with fervour, abstaining from sexual life, offering oblation to the sun at dawn and dusk in order to prove its glory. It is a chastity, thankfulness time and bonding with nature.
Cultural Significance of Chhath Puja
Chhath Puja is a significant festival in the Hindu cultural world as it is one of the few festivals celebrated to worship the Sun God. He is the giver of energy and life for this earth. This festival comes next to Diwali. The dates of this festival go back to the Vedic period, with references found in the Rigveda, which talks about the sun god worship. Chhath Puja is believed to have been derived from the legendary warrior Karna from the Mahabharata who was the son of Surya. The followers of the Sun believe that their acts of worship on the occasions of Chhath Puja shall bring them favorable blessings for health, well-being, and prosperity in life.
Four Days of Chhath Puja- Rituals and Observance
The rituals of Chhath Puja were strictly exhausting and imposed severe liabilities on the faithfuls to be disciplined, chaste, and abstaining. Each of them involves day long observance to be performed devoutly, as given below:
- Nahay-Khay (Day 1): This is the festival's initiation day with Nahay-Khay, which is basically a cleansing and purification day. The followers bathe in a river-mostly the Ganges-and take home some holy water to be used for cooking. Rice, pumpkin, and lentils are prepared into a meal that they offer to Surya and proceed to eat it as a devotion to purity in puja.
- Kharna (Day 2): The day begins with a sun-to-sun, waterless fasting, and water is not consumed from sunrise to sunset. This final day of fast gets broken as kheer and rotis are offered first to the Sun God and subsequently as prasad to friends and family.
- Sandhya Arghya (Day 3): The third day of Chhath Puja is known as Sandhya Arghya. Thousands come to the riverbanks with all grandeur and offer all their fruits, thekua, sugarcane, and much more in their baskets. All the devotees stand in water up to their waist and offer water to the setting sun so that members of their family should lead their life healthy, prosperous, and long-lived.
- Usha Arghya (Day 4): The last day of worshipping to the rising sun is the fourth day. Early in the morning, devotees gather at the river side, again enacting the same rituals they do on the previous evening and after paying arghya to the Sun God, the devotees break their fasting and distribute prasad among friends, family, and fellow devotees.
Religious and Environmental Importance of Chhath Puja
On the other hand, it transcends ritualistic practice as a sacred way of payee towards nature and natural resources. As one performs the puja on sacred water bodies, the festival inspires cleanliness. Therefore, it is connected with environmental importance and acts as a catalyst in bringing community commitment towards environmental protection. Moreover, fasting during puja brings about physical and spiritual discipline by training the mind toward gratitude and simplicity.
Conclusion
Chhath Puja is an artistic manifestation of faith, unity and reverence toward nature which is celebrated with great devotion and dedication. The tough rituals of the festival and deeply ingrained customs keep connecting a human to his/her heritage and motivate him to have consciousness about the environment. The Sun God prayer is an act of reverence toward the source of life and energy on Earth, a symbol of values like gratitude, selflessness, and worship for nature. It is that activity that binds people communities and compels them to celebrate life and decide for preserving new harmony between humankind and nature.
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