Chhath Concludes Peacefully
Patna: Nov. 17, 2007
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Chhath Concludes Peacefully
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Photo by Shashi Uttam |
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Millions of people in Patna on Saturday morning prayed to the Sun God on the 4th and final day of the Chhath festival by standing waist-deep in the Ganges and in makeshift ponds and water tanks filled with the holy 'Gangajal' thus bringing a peaceful and relatively safe end to the state's most revered festival.
After the prayers, the devotees were able to end their 36-hour long fast that also required no drinking of water for the same period of time – a rule that gives the festival the distinction of being the toughest observance in the Hindu community.
Carrying the 'daura' on their heads, people from Patna and other parts of the state filled the city's streets while on their way to the nearest Ganga ghat. With the familiar Chhath music playing at each nook and corner and volunteers offering relief items to those who dared to endure the 4-day long arduous and demanding religious and personal journey, it was, by and large, one of the safest Chhath in Patna in long time.
Meanwhile, the Chhath festival at the Lalu-Rabri household also concluded safely as Rabri Devi, the former Chief Minister of Bihar and the wife of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav completed the rituals by praying to the Sun God while standing in the special water tank built at her official residence and filled with water brought in from the Ganges and other sacred rivers across the country.
Praying for an overall development of the state, the RJD president refused to talk about politics saying there was no place for it during a holy festival like Chhath.
In a gesture of goodwill, Yadav called Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and wished him well while dispatching former minister Shyam Rajak to his house with the Chhath 'prasad'.
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