Festivals – The Chhath Festival in Bihar

It was neatly packed in a container and as I opened it, the whiff of the aroma of the chick peas and onion mix rendered me totally helpless and very soon I was tucking into the delicacy sent by the rickshaw puller friend of mine Sarjo. I had met him at Kolkata when I had gone there on one of my very many pleasure journeys. I still remember the taste with which I had tucked into his lunch. People call me crazy and eccentric but this is what makes Rossyboy. This is what makes me. The very fact that I could actually befriend a rickshaw puller intrigued all my friends. And to see that Sarjo the rickshaw puller actually visited my house in Mussoorie put all of them off balance and they are still reeling under the shock of having a friend like me!

Yes, Sarjo the rickshaw puller from Kolkata has a cell phone and my number in it. So when he came down to Mussoorie to his daughter’s house, he made it a point to call upon me. When I came to know that people from Bihar normally do not stay over at their daughter’s place I invited him to stay with me. So finally I got to have hot Satto, made my Sarjo and that’s how I started writing this blog. Sarjo had come to his daughter’s house to celebrate the Chhath festival which is a very important aspect of a Bihari’s life.

Celebrated in the months when Diwali is celebrated this is a festival that is dedicated to the Sun God. It is also known as Suryashashti. It is a way of offering thanks to the Sun God for giving such luxuries and comforts in life.

“Bihari mein Chhath ka matlab hai 6 ” said Sarjo chewing into the tobacco piece in his mouth. I had got fed up of convincing Sarjo that it was not healthy to consume tobacco. Until he pounded the piece in his palm and crushed it into powder, Sarjo was never at ease. Chhath means the 5th day of Kartik Indian month and the festival starts on this day and goes on for 4 days.

“So yeh festival tum celebrate kyon karte ho?” I asked in my best Hindi meaning why does he celebrate this festival.

He said, “Sahab, we feel that if we pray during this time, all our wishes are fulfilled. We confess all our wrongdoings during this time and endorse the faith that we would be better human beings. There is a sense of peace that we feel during this time.”

Sarjo tagged me along to his daughter’s house and we were very soon watching the whole festival unfolding. The festival per se is a festival of colorful vibrations and lot of activity, fervor and enjoyment. There are innumerable rituals involved and it was exciting to \watch them celebrate it in full gusto.

We made our way to Rajkumari Sarjo’s daughter’s house. Rajkumari was a petite, small framed young girl of around 22 years. I always wonder why the Indians give away their daughters in marriage like this at such a young age. Whatever it was, she welcomed us with a glass of water and was dressed in full splendor in a red saree full of gold embroidery. We then went to the river nearby. The belief is that we have to take a dip in the river Ganga to wash away all our sins and bring the water home to start the function. There wasn’t any river Ganga near her house so went to the representative of a water body, a nearby stream and they took a dip there. We then came back and I saw how Rajkumari cleaned the house with her sisters in law and other ladies of the house. They were all dressed in resplendent colors of pink, yellow, orange and blue. With their “sindoor” on their foreheads and with the saree drawn over their heads they sang in unision and cleaned the entire house with the water that we had brought from the river. The women were supposed to have food only once a day on the first day. In spite of the fast, they had all the energy and worked fervently.

This day was the Naha Kha meaning bathe and eat.

We weren’t supposed to stay there so we returned back and had a nice lunch of sukhi roti and aloo ki subzi prepared by Sarjo. Sukhi roti meaning Dry Indian bread and aloo ki subzi meaning potato curry. Sarjo was a very good cook and I remember how I had eaten his roti straight out of his mud gas at his house in Kolkata.

He regaled me with a lot of stories of his passengers and their eccentricities. He wasn’t educated but was worldly wise and had completed all his responsibilities in life. He lost his wife in childbirth whence both the mother and the child died. He brought up Rajkumari the first child all on his own and had given her a decent education and got her married off. With all these tales, we slept and the next morning again got ready to see what happened on the second day of Chhath.

The second day or the Kharna meaning the day before the festival of Chhath is supposed to be panchami or the fifth day. A fast is observed whole day and this gets over in the evening just before the sun sets. In India, earth is considered to be a goddess, a mother. So Mother Earth was worshipped. Then a Bihari delicacy was made with rice, milk and sugar. Then another delicacy called the puri was made which was looking like puffs. These Sarjo said were made out of wheat flour. The women folk distributed this amongst the family members and us.

“After this day, the women wouldn’t eat anything for the next 3 days.” Sarjo told me. I wondered how a person could not eat and remain energetic for 3 days. Well that is an Indian woman. I have seen so many of them doing so many things. It is unbelievable. Indians believe that fasting is a way of cleansing the body and the system.

We returned home and I was too full to have anything. So I just had some fruits and rested for the evening and settled down with Mein Kampf and read it through. After a game of solitaire I slept accompanied by the snores of Sarjo right in the next room.

The early morning of the third day of the Chhath Pooja and I was ready with my camera to take a video of whatever I was to see. All my work and writing had been stalled for this 4 day festival. Sarjo ensured that I had the choicest of Bihari food and I was more than happy now that I didn’t have to cook. !

We reached Rajkumari’s house and in the outhouse we were all seated and we played some chess with really old fashioned chess coins. They were huge, made of wood and the board was made of leather. The entire day the womenfolk spent in making offerings for the evening ceremony. There was laughter and gaiety around as the kids played around and the men worked in the house getting things ready for the evening. As evening drew closer, we went to the river again and made the offerings to the sun that was setting. This was a main feature of the festival. The devotees offering prayers to the sun.

I have been to the Brazilian carnival and this was no less. It looked so colorful, lively and full of life. There were many who were participating in the ‘pooja’ and many who were looking on like me. Those who looked on waited to get blessed by those who were participating in the festival. The womenfolk and the girls sang regional songs all of them based on a folk tune.

“Even my mother used to sing these songs.” said Sarjo with pride and he added, “My naani taught my mother to sing these songs.” I knew ‘naani” in Hindi meant Grandma. I was astonished to see that songs could come as a part of legacy.

Simple lifestyle, but valuable morals imbibed in the songs that were being sung by the folks here. The songs spoke a lot about the culture, mythology, history, social structure and the tradition of their lands. Sarjo was translating the meaning for me. After some time, I asked him to stop as music didn’t need any explanation. A true music lover would understand.

“Maithili, Magahdhi and Bhojpuri are the three forms of Bihari language.’ Continued Sarjo irrespective of my request! “These are reflected in all the Chhath songs.” I saw certain other women doing something else. Sarjo explained that in the region of Bihar each region had a different way of celebrating Chhath. Though the main idea is the same, there are small deviations in the way it is done. So I found that there were many doing different things. I enjoyed the whole jamboree.

Towards night, there was another event. This event called the Kosi saw the women lighting lot of lamps made of mud and they were kept under a covering made out of sticks of sugarcane. I asked Sarjo what the sugarcane sticks were for.

He said “They signify the five elements i.e. water, fire, earth, air and ether. This is a very big event in the Chhath Puja. This is normally done in houses where a baby is born or where there has been a marriage. The lamps denote the kind of energy that is there in the house. It represents the energy emitted by the sun rays. As Chhath Puja involves the worship of the setting sun, the puja in the evening is also directed towards the sun rays.”

That night we all slept in the outhouse of Rajkumari’s house on a charpoy or a bed made with coconut fibre as the base. We slept under the moonlight night and the experience was different. The chill of the night air grazed our cheeks and I peeped out of my blanket and found this new found experience strange but enjoyable.

The next morning I saw a lot of hustle and bustle. I woke up and refreshed in the river nearby and thanked myself for having carried a spare set of clothes. The bath in the river was unique and I was doing things I would never ever have done. After the offering to the setting sun, it was now the turn to offer something to the rising sun. This pooja called the Bihaniya Aragh, saw all of us going to the riverbank again and offering to the rising sun. The women who had had a fast for three days broke it here amidst a lot of celebration. Then they returned home and many friends came to visit them as they are considered to be devotees that day of God.

I can never forget this incredibly vibrant festival and I still remember the way the people gave it so much importance by dressing in their best. Even I was made to wear an Indian kurta and I had vermillion and turmeric all over my forehead. I put up the photo in my blog site and everyone was amused. I respected the way the members who were participating in the festival slept on the floor on mats. The noise, the music, the songs, the echo was all full of life and though it was exhausting , I really felt sad when it all got over. The festoons that were put up near the riverside and the enthusiasm with which the youngsters decorated the whole house set the ball rolling for the mood to be upbeat throughout the four days.

I took photos of the semicircular small pans that held the fruits . These pans were made out of bamboo strips,. The menu was only vegetarian and there was no salt in the food. Spices like garlic was not added and I admired the discipline that they observed by using stone vessels to cook the food.

Sarjo said ,” This is a festival that makes us repent for our past sins, Sahab. It brings all of us together and makes us refreshed till the next Chhath festival.”

Rossaying : Think Chhath, be pious