Chhath Puja is International

The devotees of Lord Sun, young and old, males and females, made a beeline to river banks here on Saturday to celebrate Chhath festival.

They will return to rive bank on Sunday morning to worship Sun during dawn.Chhath is a Vedic ritual and the only in Hinduism dedicated to Hindu God Sun, and his sister Chhathi Maiyya to thank them for bestowing the bounties of life on earth and to seek fulfillment of certain wishes. It found mention in both major Indian epics – Ramayana and Mahabharata.

People had celebrated Deepawali to welcome Rama and Sita when they returned to Ayodhya after 14-year exile and on 6th day Ramrajya was established.

Rama and Sita on that day observed fast while Sita had performed Chhath. Hence, she was blessed with Luv and Kush as their sons.

While in the Mahabharata, Draupadi had performed Chhath Puja was after they escaped from Lakshagrih.

The festival is to worship the sun god with rigorous rituals over a period of four days, including holy bathing, fasting and abstaining from drinking water, standing in water for long periods of time, and offering prayer and arghya to the setting and rising sun.

Environmentalists claim that Chhath is the most eco-friendly Hindu festival.

The festival is celebrated in the regions including the India’s NE region, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Rajasthan & Mumbai besides in Mauritius, Fiji, South Africa, Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Suriname Jamaica, other parts of Caribbean, United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Macau, Japan and Indonesia.