PARV 23 OF 30 · KARTIK
छठ महापर्व
Kartik Shukla Chaturthi to Saptami (October–November)
"उगऽ हे सूरज देव, भइल अरघ के बेर"
Katha · The story
The vrat is older than any of its stories. The Mahabharat says Kunti worshipped the sun and was given Karna; that Draupadi kept it in exile so the Pandavs could regain their kingdom. The Ramayan says Sita kept it on the banks of the Ganga at Munger when she and Ram returned to Ayodhya. The Puranas tell of Priyavrat and queen Malini whose dead son was revived by Shashthi Devi. Older still is the plain sun worship of the Rigveda, which Chhath keeps unchanged: no priest, no idol, no temple, the vrati standing in water speaking directly to the sun, at its setting and at its rising.
For Malinagar, Chhath is the festival that brings everyone home. The ghat on the Budhi Gandak is cleaned by the young men a week before, the path lit with diyas and the bamboo arches. Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, Usha Arghya: four days in which the vrati, usually the mother, fasts without water for thirty-six hours while her children, from wherever they are, stand with her in the river. The Chhath Ghar Wapsi Fund on this site exists for the ones who cannot afford the ticket.
Mahatva · Significance
Chhath is the identity festival of Bihar. It thanks Surya for life and harvest and asks Chhathi Maiya for the children's health. It is the only festival where the setting sun is honoured first, a lesson in gratitude for what has passed. Its food is cooked at home from the harvest, its soop is bamboo, its prasad is shared with every stranger at the ghat; it is a festival that cannot be bought.
"काँच ही बाँस के बहँगिया, बहँगी लचकत जाए"
A line everyone at the festival knows
Vidhi · How it is done in Malinagar
Thekua, kasar, rasiao kheer, kaddu-bhaat, whole fruits with stalks, sugarcane, and the prasad shared at the ghat.
If you are a Malinagar son or daughter and the ticket home is the only thing standing between you and the ghat, read the Chhath Ghar Wapsi page on this site.