The four-day Chhath Puja festival began on Saturday with the Nahay-Khay ritual, marking the start of prayers to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya, celebrated with devotion, discipline across India.
After two years of restrictions due to COVID-19, devotional fervour gushed forth across Bihar and parts of India where Biharis are in present on Sunday when salutations were offered to the setting sun on the auspicious occasion of Chhath.
A women offers prayers to the Sun God on the occasion of the Chhath Puja in Bhubaneswar.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Friday allowed Chhath Puja celebrations at designated sites in the city except the banks of Yamuna river.
This year, the festival is being celebrated amid the Covid-19 pandemic, and many devotees said that they prayed to Chhathi Maiyya to keep everyone safe from the virus. "I am keeping fast without water for four days. We will pray to Chhathi Maiyya to keep everyone safe from COVID-19," says Rinku Devi, a devotee, after taking a dip in the river.
As Chhath Puja draws to a close tomorrow, we bring you some pics of the festival.
While people gathered at Lucknow's Gomti riverfront, the Ganga banks in Varanasi and Patna were abuzz with devotees, keeping the COVID-19 protocols at bay.
The annual festival dedicated to the Sun god will be celebrated on Friday and Saturday by people who originally hail from north India and are residing in the metropolis. In the past, the festival used to see large number of people thronging prominent beaches, river banks and other water bodies to make offerings to the Sun god at sunrise and sunset.
Chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday appealed to rival leaders to "not do politics" over Chhath Puja, even as he asserted that the restrictions imposed on its celebrations at riverbanks and other public places were for the safety of people amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The right to life and health of the public at large cannot be sacrificed at the altar of a right to celebrate a festival
Chhath, a festival to worship the Sun God, was celebrated on Saturday with lakhs of devotees, mostly women, thronging the ghats of numerous rivers in Bihar. The ghats of the Ganga, Kosi, Kiul, Bagmati, Kamla Balan, Gandak and Burhi Gandak, besides thousands of ponds, were thronged by worshippers, who offered prasad cooked in pure ghee and mixed with sugar, raisins, coconuts, flour, fruits and sugarcane. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's sister led the family in performing puja.
People visit riverbanks during the festival to pay obeisance to the sun god at dawn as well as dusk, preferably just prior to the sunrise and sunset.
Effects of the pandemic were all too stark as the rituals were performed with face masks on.
The four-day Chhath Puja may be a Hindu festival, but Muslim families across Bihar are busy churning out earthen stoves for devotees.
The four-day long Chhath festival ended on Thursday with millions, braving the chill and taking a dip in the river to offer prayers to the rising sun.
Lakhs of devotees converged at Juhu beach in suburban Mumbai to offer prayers to the Sun God as part of the Chhath Puja festivities which began on Tuesday.
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Millions of devotees, particularly married women, took a dip in the rivers, ponds and makeshift water bodies and offered prayers as the four-day-long Chhath began amidst tight security on Monday in Bihar.
There cannot be a complete ban on firecrackers and the mechanism to stop their misuse has to be strengthened, the Supreme Court said on Monday setting aside the Calcutta High Court order banning firecrackers during Kali Puja, Diwali and other festivals this year to check air pollution amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Anyone can make tall promises and it is very easy to accept these promises if they guarantee even an iota of betterment for you, for your existence. Even if these new promises and assurances are accepted with a pinch of salt and discount the actual execution to 50%, even then the Bihari voter will be content, observes Asmita Bihari.
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