Alok Mishra
Patna : With offering of Arghya to the rising Sun, the four- day Chhath festival concluded on November 14, 2018, morning. After offering first arghya on November 13 evening, most of the devotees did not sleep as they had to fill kosi, a puja carried out mostly by devotees of north Bihar after offering first arghya.
At 4 am on November 14, the devotees left for different ghats in the state capital to offer arghya to udayiman (rising) Sun God, to pray for well being of their family members. Songs like “Ug e surjamal,’ `u jek elwa phare la ghawad se, upar sugwa merarai,’ and `runki jhunki beti mangeli parhal panditwa damad,’ rent the air in the entire city. Be it tractors or autos or shining four-wheelers, all of them vied with each other to reach their destinations.
Even Bihar DGP KS Dwivedi and Patna SSP Manu Maharaaj reached Collectorate Ghat and offered arghya to rising Sun God in the morning. Dwivedi said that due to his faith, he had come to offer arghya. Members of several voluntary organisations had set up stalls offering tea and datoon (desi tooth brush) to the devotees and their family members. Several devotees gave prasad to the members of these organizations.
While all the ghats witnessed huge gathering on the occasion, a large numbers of the devotees preferred to offer arghya on rooftops of their houses or in make-shift ponds including one at Panch Mukhi temple on Boring Canal Road and Chitkohra. NDRF men were seen patrolling in river Ganga. Even policemen were seen on motorboats.