WATCH | Patna Diaries: Of Faith And Festivities

Chhath festival in Patna 

Kharna Celebration On Day II

Damyanti Devi’s daughter Rubi was told by her uncles that she had a dark complexion and that she would never get married. They told her to apply “chuna” (limestone) and take showers with hot water but Ruby remained dusky and beautiful.

Her cousins got married. She looked like her grandmother. Tall, lean and with very defined features. And dusky. But then and even now, dark complexion has always been an issue. Ruby’s mother decided to observe a fast on Chhath if her daughter Ruby would get married. She had heard that wishes are granted by the deity if one keeps their faith and observes the rigorous fasting.

Ruby did get married. Eleven years ago. She came from her husband’s village in UP to help her mother, who is now frail and is thinking of giving up.

“I did it so she would get married,” Damyanti Devi said.

(Ruby (left) with her daughter Damyanti)

Ruby doesn’t like the village. The mother said there are no cinema halls, no shops, no nice roads.
But now she does have to hear the taunts of her relatives and others.

They aren’t rich. The fact that their daughter would have remained unmarried must have meant an additional burden on them along with the shame and stigma. Now, the world has moved on, Damyanti Devi said.

(Chhath celebrations at Damyanti's house)

"We are stuck in some other time zone," she said.

Her daughter wore a bright purple sari. She said she is happy her mother’s faith is intact.
At the Kharna celebration on the second day of Chhath, Damyanti Devi blessed the young girls and boys and said they should find good matches. She also said they should find jobs.
“Things have changed;” she said.

Da II- Muslim traditions of Chhath in Bihar

Shakila Khatoon was sitting outside her house waiting for Pairu’s wife. In Kamla Nehru Nagar, a slum in Patna, young men were ferrying around speakers and festoons to hang. It was Kharna and bird lights had been hung. Khatoon has made a wish for her son to be cured of his addiction to what she refers to as “solution” to the Chhath deity. She said she would contribute to the offerings for the deity. She has this belief and has been holding on to it.

“You see Pairu’s wife’s wish got her wish,” she said.
She pointed out to the two children sleeping inside a one-room tenement.

“Them,” she said.

She went on to say Pairu’s wife had three daughters and wanted a son. She made a vow that if she would get a son, she would observe chhath for five years. She had twins the next year and she fasted and observed the festival for five years. Khatoon also went to the ghats and they would quit eating meat for a month.

There were several Muslim families that observed Chhath in the neighbourhood.
“It isn’t about religion but about faith,” she said.

Pairu passed away last year. His wife walked over to the house and said she didn’t want to talk about it only because there is so much growing polarization now and she want to be targeted for being a Muslim who had observed Chhath.

“They will say all kinds of things,” she said.

In Bihar, Muslims observing Chhath is not a new thing. Many families have observed the festival for many years. Pairu's wife is one of them.

On the second day of the festival, the women and men who observe the fast cook kheer for prasad.

A few women were staying in a shed at the Darbhanga House on the banks of Ganges. Renu said she had come from Jahanabad and would stay along with several other families on the banks of the river.

 Tomorrow, they will offer their first arghya to the setting sun and staying next to the river is auspicious.

Day I - Clay pots and religious harmony

There is something about this city during this time. 

I see Muslim women making these mud stoves for the festival of Chhath. Women and men who are fasting during the festival will cook their meals and the prasad on these chulhas beginning today.

The four-day festival is observed by people across the faiths who worship the Sun.

 The women I met told me they abstain from eating meat during this time out of respect for those observing and celebrating the festival and even contribute money in the puja.

Faith is such a beautiful thing. And faith must not be bound to religion. In Bihar’s Saran district, many Muslim families observe the festival.

The four-day Chhath festival comes after Diwali. It began Monday when devotees across the state bathed in a ritual called ‘Nahai Khai’, which will be followed by Kharna on Tuesday.

The first Arghya – when prayers are offered to the setting sun – will take place on Wednesday. And the Arghya to the rising sun will take place on Thursday.

Follow the diverse traditions of Chhath in Bihar with Outlook.