Chhath Puja

Credit - Rahul Talwar

Chhath is an ancient festival that has its origin in the Vedas and used to be celebrated all over Bharat at one time. However, with the passage of time, it decreased in popularity and became confined to the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and the Madhesh region of Nepal.

The festival is dedicated to the worship of Surya – the deity of the sun and his sister Chhathi Maiyya, who is worshipped as the goddess of the festival. The whole puja is performed as a thanksgiving to Surya, the sun god, for supporting life on earth and seeking the divine couple’s blessings. Worship of the sun has always been given a unique position in Hinduism from Vedic times. Though our physical eyes cannot see the creator, we can see the sun which is the source of both light and life. Life on this planet would cease if there was no sun. So in Hinduism, the sun is called pratyaksha devata – the god that is visible to the eyes.

The Hindu religion has always believed in the efficacy of the sun to give both physical and mental health and cure all types of ailments. Hence, the most famous hymn in the Vedas is the Gayatri Mantra which is an invocation to the sun to ensure longevity, prosperity, progress and well-being. The Chhath festival is the only festival that is solely devoted to the worship of the solar orb.

This festival is one that demands a lot of tapas (austerity) from its devotees. There is a rigorous routine of bathing in holy rivers or water bodies, abstinence from food and water, offering arghya (water scented with cardamom and dhruv grass) to the setting and rising sun, and meditation on the sun while standing in water! So it’s a festival which demands great faith and dedication on the part of the devotee.

The word chhath is derived from the word shat which means six in Sanskrit. Chhath Puja is celebrated on the Shashti Tithi or the sixth day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Kartika, six days after Diwali. It is celebrated for four days starting from chaturthi or the fourth day of the bright fortnight and ending with saptami or the seventh day. The main puja known as “Chhath” actually falls on the third day which is shashti or the sixth day of the bright fortnight.

Strangely enough, the famous festival of Kartikeya known as “Skanda Shashti”, which is very popular in the south of Bharat, also falls on the same day – the sixth day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Kartika. Skanda is one of the names of Kartikeya and Shashti means the sixth day as we have seen. Kartikeya used to be a popular deity in the north at one time. Later on, he is said to have shifted to the south after a tiff with his parents. Maybe this was the time when the split occurred and the northern states kept on with the ancient Chhath Puja and the south started worshipping Kartikeya, son of Shiva and the general of the gods.

Shashti Devi or Chhathi Maiyya is said to be the manasaputri (mind-born) daughter of Brahma. In the Puranas, she is known as the mother of Katyayani, who is worshipped on the sixth day of Navaratri.

It is believed that Chhath Puja was performed during the early Vedic period by sages who would fast for days and perform the puja using mantras from the Rig Veda. The Mahabharata says that Chhath Puja was performed by Karna, the son of Kunti, the mother of the Pandavas. His father was the sun god, Surya. Karna was made the king of Anga by Duryodhana. Anga Desh is the modern city of Bhagalpur in Bihar.

According to another legend, the Pandavas along with Draupadi performed the puja to overcome the obstacles in their lives and gain their lost kingdom. The Ramayana mentions that Rama and Sita kept the fast on this day and the Chhath Puja was performed by Sita. Hence, she was blessed with two sons, Luv and Kush.

The Brahmavaivarta Purana gives another interesting story about this festival. King Priyamvrata was the son of the first Manu, known as Swayambhuva. He had no children. The great sage called Maharishi Kashyapa advised him to perform the “Putrakameshti Yaga.” Soon after the yaga was conducted, his queen, Malini, gave birth to a son but unfortunately, the baby was stillborn. The king and the entire court were totally depressed. Just then they saw an aerial vehicle hovering above them in the sky. A divine being was sitting inside. She introduced herself as Shashti Mata to the sorrowful king and told him that she was the one who protected all children and blessed childless couples with progeny. She laid her hand on the lifeless corpse and infused life into it. The king was delighted and from that day on he swore to worship her. This happened on the sixth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Kartika and this is supposed to have been the very first celebration of Chhath Puja.

As has been said many times before, all Hindu festivals have a scientific and utilitarian reason hidden behind the outer, elaborate rituals and the Chhath Puja is no exception to this rule. The scientific significance lies in the fact that the sun has the power to cure various ailments and ensure longevity. The whole process undergone by the devotees during the rituals ensures solar infusion into the body. When the physical conditions of the body are in a specific state, the absorption and conduction of solar bio-electricity increases.

According to astronomy, the date of the Chhath Puja is also very important. The sun is in the southern hemisphere during the month of Kartika. At this time, there is an upsurge of ultraviolet rays to the earth. This is very harmful to people’s skin, eyes and stomach. That is why during Chhath Puja, arghya is offered to the sun many times both in the morning and evening to protect us from the harmful effects of these rays.

Yogic philosophy says that the physical or exterior forms of all living beings have highly advanced energy channels. Solar bio-electricity starts moving into the human body when it is exposed to solar radiations of a particular wavelength. Under specific physical and mental conditions, the absorption, as well as the conduction of this solar energy, becomes higher. The rituals done during Chhath Puja make the mind of the devotee who is fasting fit to absorb the solar energy which might otherwise harm her.

The Vedic rishis were using the same kind of process. Their intake of solid and liquid food was cut down to the bare minimum to enable them to absorb the energy required for life directly from the sun instead of from food and water.

Environmentalists have claimed that the festival is one of the most eco-friendly religious festivals and should be used to spread the message of nature conservation. Moreover, it’s one of the few Hindu festivals that transcends the rigid caste system, which emerged in the post-Vedic period. Devotees from all castes took part in the festival and prepared the same type of prasad for offering to the sun god. In each village devotees of all castes used to go to the same riverbanks or ponds for performing the ritual.

During the puja, the vrattis, or those who are taking the vow, have to fast without water for thirty-six hours and pray for the well-being of their families and loved ones. Fasting begins on panchami which is the fifth day of the lunar month and ends on saptami which is the seventh day when the devotees give usha arghya to the sun god, Surya in the early morning. During this period the devotees must observe purity of thought, word and deed and live a frugal life. They have to sleep on the floor on a single blanket.

This year 2024 it falls on Thursday 7th November.

Now let us see how the four-day festival is conducted.

The first day is known as “Nahai Khay”. Devotees have to bathe in some water body, preferably the Ganga or some other holy river or lake. After this, they have to clean their houses and surroundings. After the bath, prasad cooked with light ingredients like moong beans, pumpkin, and bottle gourd is distributed. The women who are observing the fast are called vrattis. They can eat the prasad only once on this day. They are not allowed to drink water. Other members of the family will eat only after the vrattis have eaten the prasad.

The second day is known as “Lohanda” and “Kharna”. It is also known as rasaio kheer. On this day the vrattis will have a full day fast. They are not allowed to drink even a drop of water. After sunset, the vrattis have to prepare a special prasad called rasaio kheer which they can eat along with fruits in the evening. On this day prayers are offered to Chhathi Maiyya at midnight. A special dish called thekua is prepared which is used as prasad during the puja to Chhathi Maiyya.

The third day of the festival is known as sandhya arghya. This is the main festival when the sun god is worshipped through the yogasana known as Surya Namaskar. 

Sandhya means “twilight” so this festival is performed in the evening at some riverbank. A bamboo basket filled with fruits, thekua and rice laddus is offered to the sun along with arghya (perfumed water). After returning home the vrattis perform the ritual known as kosi bharai. A canopy is made out of five big sugar canes, representing the five elements. This canopy is an integral part of the puja and is known as a kosi. Twelve or twenty-four diyas (mud lamps) are lighted beneath the kosi or canopy. A bamboo basket filled with offerings is offered to Chhathi Maiyya. Her songs are sung throughout the night and the story of the vrat or vow is repeated by some priest or knowledgeable person.

The fourth or last day of the festival is known as “ushas arghya”. Ushas means “dawn” and all rites on this day have to be done before dawn. Devotees will sit on the banks of the river or lake till the sun rises. As the day breaks the devotees stand in the water and offer arghya to the sun. The vrattis break their fast by eating prasad after which they take blessings from the elders of the family.

Many types of health benefits are supposed to accrue from this four-day ritual. Due to the thirty-six hours fast done by them, the vratti’s body literally gets transformed into a cosmic powerhouse. The latent psychic energy of the kundalini also gets awakened since complete detoxification of the body takes place.

The rituals help the flow of blood and allow the proper functioning of the body. By praying to the sun during sunrise and sunset devotees get optimum energy. The prayers along with fasting ensure detoxification of the human body, making it stronger and capable of fighting all diseases. 

When the physical and mental conditions of a body are in a specific state, the absorption and conduction of this solar electricity increases. This is the great benefit that we get from the Chhath Puja. The whole process allows cosmic solar energy to flow unchecked into our bodies.

So we see that this festival, as is common with all our festivals, is a means to keep up our health as well as promote our spiritual evolution by using natural means and in this case, the energy of the sun.

Aum Suryaya Namaha!