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Sun worship festival Chhat ends

     Patna/New Delhi/Mumbai: Millions of people across India's northern and eastern states congregated on river banks to pray to the rising Sun as the three-day long Chhat (pronouncrd chaath, chath, chhat). The puja concluded on Tuesday.The annual "Chhat" which is dedicated to the worship of the Sun God, which symbolises life, force and prosperity, is celebrated mainly in Bihar. Women held special prayers for the welfare and prosperity of their families by performing rituals in which they stand waist- deep in water for at least two hours and offer fruits and flowers to Surya or the Sun. It is a gesture of thanksgiving and also seeking the blessings from the forces of nature mainly Sun God and the river is the core of the festival. It is believed that the devotees' wishes who has followed all the prescribed rituals during the three days is fulfilled. "It is one of the biggest festivals of Bihar and we pray to the Sun God for long life and well being of our family," Radha Sinha, an old lady who has been doing the prayers at the banks of River Ganges for years said in Patna.

    Similar scenes were witnessed in Delhi, which has a sizeable population from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. People gathered on the banks of the Yamuna to offer their final prayers. "It is a thanksgiving gesture after your wishes are fulfilled," said Runa Singh, a devotee. On the first day, the devotees eat kheer (condensed milk) and roti (handmade bread) and keep fast for a day and half. People go to bathing ghats on river banks and pay obeisance to both the rising and setting sun during the festival which is celebrated on the sixth and seventh days after Diwali, the festival of lights. In Mumbai, people thronged beaches to get a glimpse of the rising sun. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh also visited the beach to join the morning prayers, while actor-turned-politician Govinda, a host of other Punjabi folk singers and famous Bollywood singer Sonu Nigam entertained them.