Chhath: The festival of nature worshipping

 By Dr Birbal Jha*

Chhath is a great folk festival of nature worshipping mainly celebrated in Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. However, the philosophy behind celebrating this festival is global. Perhaps this is the reason why the migrants of such areas having faith in this tradition celebrate it not only in other parts of the country but all over the world. 

Chhath is the pious festival of protection of the environment, prevention of diseases and maintaining discipline, a mention of which is found in the Rig-Veda, a great Indian scripture for mankind. On the occasion of Deepawali, the festival of lights, people clean their houses more particularly. On Chhath, they clean their surroundings and the banks of reservoirs like a river, pond, lake, etc with great piety. The cultural tradition of cleaning the reservoirs has been in practice since ancient times in those areas.

From the very next day of Deepawali, people get involved in this virtuous work. In cyclical nature, what comes after the rainy season is the good of autumn which, however, inherits a plethora of wastes and weeds breeding flies, insects and reptiles. All these somehow pose a threat to human inhabitation. The festivals like Deepawali and Chhath are so designed to steer clear of all of them and make our habitation disease-free and worth living. 

Thus, Chhath is the festival of worshipping the Sun and cleaning reservoirs. Further, it makes us culturally and spiritually strong.  The people of those areas well understand the intents and purposes of the project of cleaning the water body during the festivals. 

Sun is worshipped in Chhath in which hard fasts and rules are followed. In other words, it is a festival of nature-worshipping as well as discipline in physical and mental exercise and ethos. The festival which is celebrated for two consecutive days falls on the sixth day of Kartik, a Hindi Calendar month, accordingly in English- October- November. Those who fast for such two days on the trot follow the special rules of purification from the Chaturthi (4th day) date itself. The worshipping at Panchami and Shashthi is performed in the evening and at the crack of dawn at Saptami when it concludes. 

While worshipping, devotees stand in the water body up to the waist for a pretty long time which is called ‘Katisnan’ in hydro-medicinal therapy. Many diseases such as leprosy are prevented and cured with such therapy. It is an open secret that flora and fauna get energy from the Sun itself. Vitamin D is obtained from Sun rays only. People in western countries are found to be deficient in vitamin D because there is hardly sunrise for a month in a year. The maximum temperature goes up to 30 degrees Celsius over there. The latitudinal position of India is as such that there is plenty of sunlight in every part of the country.

The Sun is curative and restorative. The houses where its rays reach directly have no habitat for insects and are generally disease-free. This is the reason why people like to build east-facing houses, according to Vastu Shashtra. 

The festival of Chhath is celebrated before the beginning of winter. The importance of sunlight grows more in winter. Therefore, by worshipping the Sun, people pray to God to protect them from the severity of cold in winter. 

Nature worshipping is the culture of Hinduism. Through such an enlightening tradition of worshipping rivers, ponds, wells, trees, etc, people express their gratitude to nature for anything and everything they are obliged to. In the Rig Veda, the Sun, the river and the earth are placed in the category of deities. 

Hinduism is a philosophy in itself, which teaches us the way of life, lifestyles and cultural values. Chhath is a great holy festival of faith and learning lifestyles, in which cleanliness, purification and purity have special significance.

This makes one wonder why this Mahaparva of public faith should not be declared a national festival of cleanliness. The declaration of Chhath as a national festival may also create awareness among the people about the cleanliness of the reservoirs spread in every corner of the country. This will also accelerate the water conservation campaign.  With the help of devotees linking festivals like Chhath with environmental protection would be a positive initiative to ensure the contribution to development. Collectivism is a part of human civilization. Hence, the institutionalization of celebrating festivals and occasions always gives impetus to living a good life and ensuring a standard of living for posterity. Chhath is, of course, a good occasion to understand this fact in our life. It reminds us of the value of energy and power. It also speaks of our cultural values which need to be protected and boasted of. In a nutshell, Nature worshipping is the culture of Hinduism. Chhath is the pious cultural festival of the protection of the environment, prevention of diseases and maintaining discipline, worshipping the Sun and cleaning waterbody. 

*The writer is a noted author, accredited with having created a revolution in English training In India with the slogan ‘English for all’.