By Dr Birbal Jha
Long-established Chhath Puja, an outdoor religious ritual and celebration, is an environmental necessity. With roots in the Rig Veda, the Chhath Puja celebration holds great importance in today’s context. The salience of the puja goes beyond its religious identity, underscoring the covalent correlations between environment and lifestyle of the people around.
In reverence to the Sun God, the ritual of Chhath Puja is punctuated with cleanliness and sanitation that essentially adds up wings to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet projects: Swachh Bharat and Namami Ganga.
Historically native to Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh of India, Chhath Puja is now observed across the world with high spirits and alacrity from Mumbai to Mauritius and from America to Australia, cutting across geographical boundaries.
People in these territories celebrate it as their culture, faith, and practice religiously, with great piety, devotion, and fervour since time immemorial.
In Indian culture, particularly in the Mithila belt, where Goddess Sita was born, we express our gratitude to all natural elements that assist us in some manner. Worshipping plants, trees, the sun, moon, animals, and so on demonstrates how we interact to and connect with them as part of our dharma and karma in Indian civilisation.
In Indian science and philosophy, worshipping the Sun is highly valued and meaningful. Before winter arrives and waterlogging subsides, devotees of Chhath, which falls on the sixth day of ”Kartik” in the Hindu calendar, meticulously clean the ponds, rivers, water bodies, environs, and human habitations. Furthermore, the sun becomes more important in winter since it protects us from the cold and energises the human body.
The devotees, being conscious of environmental concerns, pay minute attention to sanitation and cleanliness during the celebration of Chhath. They observe complete abstinence or prohibition and maintain remarkable cordial relationships and brotherhood, which necessarily is in the interest of mankind and human lives.
If Chhath Puja is declared a national festival, it will entail a plethora of benefits. One of them is that the sanitation drive of the current government will see a fillip spontaneously. Religious practice has a binding and multiplier effect.
Moreover, it will encourage Indian culture, values, and ethos associated with the puja, which is truly scientific. In this chaste celebration, indigenous goods, articles, and handicrafts that governments tend to promote are used.
The Sun, regarded as God in Hindu mythology, is worshipped when it rises and sets down. Such a culture is one of its kinds, which is not found elsewhere in the international arena. Only India can boast of it. However, thanks to Poorvanchali migrants across the world, Chhath culture is extrapolating all across the globe.
On a biological count, the sun is a powerful source of vitamin D, which people in the west remain somewhat deprived of because of lower temperatures and is in abundance in India. In days to come, solar energy will be the best possible source of electricity.
Sunrays neutralise the germs and unwanted insects around, protecting human life and augur well for healthy human life and nation.
Every Indian festival has its tale, anecdotes, specialities, and values. So is the case with Chhath Puja. Maybe more relevant and scientific!
Whether it is in Delhi, Mumbai, or Patna, the Chhath culture is on the rise exponentially because of its values, purity, and pertinence. Delhi, with a sizeable population of Poorvanchali migrants (around 80 lacs), has a massive impact on electoral democracy.
Chhath has all the potential to safeguard the sanctum sanctorum of the environment and mankind. Standing in waist-deep water (katisnan) is an age-old practice in naturopathy, as it cures many diseases and offers longevity.
The routes to the designated worshipping sites on the banks, rivers, ponds or other water bodies are made so clean and smooth that many devotees take prostration marches to the designated place of worship.
Dharma paves the way for meaningful living, peace, and tranquillity, which everybody aspires to achieve these days.