suARy = SUN...THE shkti (POWER OF bRH`m) BELIEVED TO CREATE, SUSTAIN AND RECYCLE LIFE IN THIS UNIVERSE IN veDik LIFESTYLE.....
Posted by Vishva News Reporter on November 7, 2003

 

SHSH`THii puujaa TO suARy-Daev

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 31, 2003, kaartik maas, suD 6th: (From Hinduism Today) :

The Chhath Puja started on October 31, 2003. It is an agrarian religious festival that migrants from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh have taken with them -- some praying to the rising sun on the banks of the River Yamuna in Delhi, others decked in traditional vermillion-bordered yellow saris, conducting the puja on the banks of the Hudson River in New York. Chhath derives its name from the day it is held, i.e., the sixth day after Diwali according to the lunar calendar. It is popular in Nepal, also. People worship the Sun at an important period after the monsoons when the sunlight is needed to dry the ground so that the next crop of wheat can be planted. In fact, freshly cut sugarcane figures in the offerings made to the Sun; devotees will begin to enjoy their first sugarcane only after the puja finishes. Thus, Chhath is a type of thanksgiving for agricultural Bihar. The distinctive prasad (blessed food) during Chhath is thekua -- a mix of wheat, jaggery and milk which is deep-fried in ghee (clarified butter).

Please continue sharing the knowledge about this puujaa (worship) ritual of veDik lifestyle by clicking on the next line.....


 


Chhath Puja:
An agrarian prayer for prosperity

Aditya Sinha
From Hindustan Times


This morning, lakhs of devotees would be worshipping the rising sun as the culmination of Chhath Puja. It is a religious festival that migrants of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh have taken with them — thousands will be praying at the banks of the Yamuna in Delhi this week. There are even Bihari women in America who, decked in traditional vermillion-bordered yellow saris, will be conducting the puja on the banks of New York’s Hudson River!
 

Chhath derives its name from the day it is held, i.e., the sixth day after Diwali according to the lunar calendar. Diwali is an amavasya (moonless night), and Chhath is calculated accordingly.

Though Sun worship is not an integral part of Hinduism anymore, having died out in the early Vedic period, the origins of Chhath might be likened to a revival of Sun worship in Bihar. This came about when some Brahmins from Rajasthan travelled across the country, reintroducing the practice (the construction of the Sun Temple in Konark, Orissa, is linked to the influence). That Chhath has remained confined to the main Gangetic plains of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is not surprising, considering that most major festivals in India have geographic boundaries (such as Durga Puja in Bengal).

Chhath is an agrarian festival. People worship the Sun at an important period after the monsoons (and before the winter), when the sunlight is needed to dry the ground, so that the next crop of wheat can be planted. In fact, freshly cut sugarcane figures in the offerings made to the Sun; devotees will begin to enjoy their first sugarcane only after the puja finishes. Thus, Chhath is a type of thanksgiving for agricultural Bihar. The distinctive prasad during Chhath is thekua — a mix of wheat, jaggery and milk which is deep-fried in ghee, further underlining the agrarian character of this festival.

Chhath is officially a three-day affair, beginning on the fourth day after Diwali, though now it is de rigeur to start on the third day itself. As it is, the week that begins with Diwali is a culturally active week — you have bhaiya dooj on the second day, which in some parts is combined with a kalam-dawat (pen-inkpot) puja.

It stretches over so many days because the devotees go through increasing stages of ritual purity. In earlier times, only the well-to-do could afford to do the puja; now it is decidedly democratic. Food is not just vegetarian, but even onions and garlic are shunned; new utensils are purchased and cooking is done on wood. Not just the people doing the actual puja, but their families and friends also enter this mode of purity.

The worship takes place at the local river, since the ‘holy dip’, as in other parts of India, is an integral part of ritual purification. Nowadays, however, the worship in Bihar provides an extraordinary sight: whether people arrive by buses, trucks, rickshaws, cycles, or by foot, they all merge into one mass at the riverbed. Brahmins, Thakurs, Yadavs, Kurmis, or any caste, it all becomes meaningless as devotees worship cheek-by-jowl, and even share their offerings. In fact, engineering and medical colleges in Bihar set up pandals to distribute prasad, and no one asks about the caste composition in these institutions.

The worship itself is not text-linked (remember, Sun worship died out in the early Vedic period). It is a sort of meditative activity that peaks on the fifth day’s sunset and the sixth day’s sunrise. Basically, the devotee does a namaskar to the sun as it sets and rises around the critical Chhath night.

Several myths have become associated with Chhath — that you should do it at least two years in a row, and that your material wishes will be fulfilled. My mother, who visits India to do Chhath every year, brings along a long wish-list from all her fellow Bihari-Americans who can’t make it, underlining the changeless nature of faith.
 



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