Patna: Many throng ghats as Chhath festivities begin

PATNA: The four-day Chhath festival started on Wednesday with ‘nahay-khay’. Devotees in large numbers thronged different ghats on the bank of the Ganga to take a dip in the holy river before starting the rituals. They also carried Ganga water home to use for cooking ‘prasad’, which mainly comprised ‘chawal’ (rice), ‘chana dal’ (split Bengal gram) and ‘lauki’ (bottle gourd).Many devotees will use the Ganga water on Thursday for preparing the ‘kharna prasad’ of rice, milk and sugar or jaggery.
Lakhs of devotees will fast the whole day on Thursday and eat the ‘kharna prasad’ in the evening. And then their almost 30-hour-long fast will begin from Friday till they offer ‘arghya’ to the rising sun on Saturday morning.
Sixty-year-old Basanti Devi of Vijay Nagar, who took a dip in the Ganga on Wednesday, said, “I have been keeping fast and celebrating Chhath for the last many years. This year, I will pray that the coronavirus goes away.” Basanti was accompanied by her husband Jagdish Mishra, a retired government official, who also keeps fast and performs Chhath rituals with her.
Managing the preparations at Patipul Ghat, one Sanjay Sinha said nothing could deter a devotee from performing Chhath rituals. “Even a pandemic cannot stop them,” said Sinha and praised the arrangements made by the administration. “But people should also take care and ensure that they put on masks and maintain distance. Though instructions have been issued, many people are not following the norms. It is not possible for the administration to get everyone put on a mask,” he said.
Since many people are emotionally attached with Chhath, they come home on the occasion from their workplaces outside the state. Some of them could be spotted on the Ganga ghat. Alok Sharma, who works with a multinational company in Delhi, was one of them. “My mother performs Chhath rituals every year and we come here during this period,” said Sharma, who collected the Ganga water with his sister Sharmila Kumari and son Dhrupad Sharma. “It gives mental satisfaction,” he added.
Vineeta Rani, who lives in Mumbai, has also come with her children to participate in the Chhath festival at her mother’s place. “Though Chhath is celebrated in every part of the world where Biharis reside, the feeling of doing it in Bihar is different,” said Vineeta.