Chhath Puja begins |
The festival of worshipping and offering extols to sun, Chhath Puja, is an ancient Hindu celebration rejoiced from the prehistoric Vedic times.It is celebrated to show gratefulness to sun for supporting life on earth. `Chhath` is a combination of two different Hindi words- `Chah`, denoting six stages and `Hath` signifying the science of austerity. Hence, Chhath is a festival in which the devotees obtain solar energy in six different stages. In Bihar, on the second day of Chhath Puja festival `Kharna` would be observed on Friday evening. After paying obeisance to God, devotees would take prasad of `Kheer`. With this 36 hours long fast of devotees without water would begin. On Saturday, devotees would offer Sandhya Arghya to the setting Sun on the ghats of rivers, ponds and water bodies. On Sunday morning with Pratah Arghya offered to the rising Sun the four day long festival will end. Chhath is observed six days after the famous Hindu festival- `Diwali`. It is one of the most popular festivals of Bihar. Moreover, it is also celebrated with enormous zeal in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal. Adequate security arrangements have been made on the banks of Ganga, Gandak, Kosi, Bagmati, Mahananda and other rivers of the state. Special cleanliness drives are being run by local people, municipal bodies and civil society organisations.
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