Four-Day Chhath Rituals: Social Unity and Eco‑Friendly Practices
New Delhi, November 10 – Chhath Puja, celebrated for four uninterrupted days, blends strict asceticism with vibrant communal worship. While the fast forbids food and water, the ceremony mandates immaculate purity, precise timings and the reverent offering of arghya to both the setting sun and the rising sun – a practice unique among Hindu festivals.
The ritual’s scriptural foundations are found in the Vedic corpus, where the Rigvedic verses praise Surya and Ushas. These ancient hymns provide a theological justification for venerating the sun and dawn as living forces rather than symbolic idols.
Mythic accounts bolster the tradition. The Mahabharata recounts Karna, the solar deity’s son, who performed daily water‑borne sun offerings, a discipline that turned him into an unrivaled warrior. Modern devotees echo Karna’s method by standing waist‑deep in river water during the sunrise arghya.
A parallel narrative follows Draupadi’s rigorous sun‑fast during the Pandavas’ exile, which, according to the epic, restored their fortunes. Similarly, Ramayana lore mentions Sita’s sun‑worship at Munger’s Gangesbank after the defeat of Ravana, marking the site as a historic Chhath venue.
Beyond myth, Chhath stands out for its social inclusivity. The ceremony requires no priest; people from every caste, creed and economic background converge on river ghats, holding bamboo baskets, cooking on earthen stoves and sharing sweet rice‑flour dumplings (thethekua). This reliance on locally sourced, biodegradable materials makes the festival one of the few large‑scale eco‑friendly observances in India.
The four‑day timeline includes: 1. Nahaay‑Kharna – a pre‑fast cleansing bath and consumption of a single sattu‑based meal. 2. Kharna – a 36‑hour fast with only water. 3. Sandhya Arghya – offering to the setting sun. 4. Usha Arghya – the final offering to the rising sun.
Each phase reinforces discipline, gratitude and community bonding, illustrating why Chhath continues to thrive in the modern age while preserving its ancient, egalitarian spirit.