Jawhar Sircar : (Member, Rajyasabha.) 8th. November, 2021. Surya-shasthi or the Chhatt (sixth) festival is held six days after Diwali and it is the first celebration of bright light and the sun, after the blackest night of the year, ie, Kartik Amavasya.
It was originally a women’s festival to thank the sun god and menfolk joined later on. Worshippers seek boons from their Chhatti Maiya and Surya Dev and the unique character of this festival is that it worships both dawn and dusk, the rising sun as well as the setting sun.
Since it was essentially a very vibrant folk festival that had no role for the priest or temples. That may be the reason why the priestly class did not link it with the Vedas or Upanishads and it was not brought into the religious mainstream.
That is why not many outside Bihar know why so many lakhs of people carry cartloads or head-loads of bananas, coconuts, sugar cane and many other fruits to the Ganga or other rivers or the ocean. Nowadays, however, hordes of priests have started occupying vantage points in the water and earn dakshina from the worshippers, as other gainful employment is nowhere in sight.
Today, devotees will have only lau-bhaat that is boiled rice with lauki and the four day festival starts tomorrow— on the fourth lunar day after the dark amavasya of Kartik. It is called Chaturthi which is on 9th November this year and goes on through Panchami on 10th.
Shasthi or Chhatt, the main day, is on 11th November and finally Saptami, which falls on the 12th of November. Chhatt Puja is the occasion for the most colourful dresses to come out and there is a lot of folk songs and dancing as well. As fasting is mandatory, people take preparatory steps by consuming a lot of freshly reaped rice, puris, bananas, coconuts and grapefruits before beginning their rituals.
The first day is actually popular as Nahay Khay and the holy dip in a water body is taken on this day. Womenfolk, who observe this festival, take only a single meal and get into the water upto their knees or waist to pray in the direction of the sun. This is followed by an ancient custom for married women to smear each other’s forehead with ochre vermillion, right along the line of the nose to the tip.
The second day of Chhatt is called Kharna, on which total fasting is observed without a drop of water, from sunrise to the sunset. Devotees have their food only after offering it first to the sun god at sunset. This is a rich repast consisting of ‘payasam’ or ‘kheer’ made rice and milk, ‘puris,’ hard baked wheat flour cakes called thekuas and bananas, which are distributed to one and all.
On the third day which is ‘Chhatt’, fasting without water is again observed. The evening offerings or sandhya arghya is an elaborate ritual when oblations are made to the setting sun. Bamboo trays are held in its direction containing the much favoured thekuas, coconuts, bananas and other fruits.
The fourth day is also very auspicious and worshippers gather in large numbers on the banks of rivers with their family and friends for the final morning ritual of offering ‘arghyas’ to the rising sun. The fast is then broken with a bite of ginger with sugar, thus marking the end of the rituals. People then burst out with joy, feasting and merriment.
The festival is most popular in Bihar-Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Madhesh tract of Nepal. It travelled to Fiji, West Indies and Mauritius, wherever Biharis went. Many believe in it as a fertility rite for both humans and harvests, while other swear by its curative powers.
Be First to Comment