Chhath: ‘Vratis’ observe ‘kharna’ on Day 2

PATNA: The entire city wore a festive look on Monday with Chhath songs rending the air and a large number of devotees rushing to the Ganga ghats to fetch sacred water to prepare ‘prasad’ for ‘Kharna’, the second-day ritual of the four-day Chhath festivities.

The ‘vratis’ observed daylong fast and cooked ‘prasad’ with the water collected from the Ganga on ‘Kharna’ day. The ‘prasad’ included ‘kheer’, ‘puri’, ‘chapati’ and bananas, which were distributed among family members and friends.

A large number of devotees — men and women alike — visited the ghats since early morning on Monday to take a holy dip in the Ganga.

The district administration has installed public address systems at all the 79 ghats. Puja committees have also installed their loudspeakers. Chhath songs, sang by playback singers, played from these loudspeakers since early morning.

‘Vrati’ Parvati Devi of Ashok Rajpath said, “We will make ‘kheer’ and ‘puri’ as ‘prasad’, which we will eat and distribute among our near and dear ones. The ‘vratis’ will then go on fast again for the next 36 hours,” the woman in her 40s said after taking a holy dip in the Ganga at Collectorate Ghat.

Anand Shankar of Machhuatoli said his family came to the ghat in the afternoon as they feared huge rush of devotees.

The district administration in collaboration with police and civic body has made elaborate arrangements at the ghats for the ‘vratis’ and their family members. Police control rooms, watch towers and high-mast lights were in place at Kali Ghat, Kadam Ghat and Collectorate Ghat. National Disaster Response Force jawans were seen patrolling the barricaded area of ghats.

People were being asked through the public address systems to follow rules.

However, some devotees were unhappy with the quality of river water. “Year after year, the quality of Ganga water is deteriorating. The government should clean the river,” said Ashish Ranjan of Kankerbagh at Kadam Ghat.