Four-day Chhath festival concludes after `Argya’ to rising Sun

Alok Mishra

Patna: Devotees thronged again at different ghats at Patna to offer `Arghya’  to Udayiman ( rising) Sun God on Monday morning. Chhath songs rent the air hours since the wee hours with devotees preparing themselves for offering Arghya to the rising Sun. Many of the devotees, who had performed Kosi puja on November 6 night, decorated their dauras with soops full of fruits so that they could reach their destinations on time.

The male members carried the dauras to the ghats with female and male devotees and their family members following them. The family members sung melodious Chhath songs—“suni na arjiya hamar ye Chhathi Mai, Darshan dihi na apar,” “u je kelwa je phar la ghawad se upar suga merarai.” The devotees took a holy dip in river Ganga and waited for the Sun God to rise. As the Sun God was seen on the horizon, they offered Arghya to the udayiman Sun . After the puja was over, the women family members gave khoicha to the devotees, who fell on the ground seeking blessings of the Sun God for their family members.

Prasad was distributed among the family members and others on the ghat. Those returning on their vehicles also distributed prasad among the members of different organizations, who had cleaned the roads and made lighting arrangements on the streets. Tea was also offered to the vratees and their family members by different organizations when they were returning homes. Some organizations had made arrangements for offering tea to the vratees and their family members on the ghats itself. The devotees reached their houses while the male members reached different markets to purchase vegetables. A man purchasing vegetable said that they are now free to mix onion and garlic in their food as during the four day Puja, both these substances are prohibited.

Several families offered Arghya on the roof of their houses. The female members also assembled in large number to assist the devotees. As the Patna district administration had banned bursting of crackers on ghats, the children burst crackers  in different colonies and localities. Later, prasad was distributed among the family members and the neighbours.