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Chhath celebrated with fervour

PATNA: It was a picture of the most pious offering to the setting sun on the occasion of Chhath by millions across the State on Friday.

At all water places, particularly along river banks, were a congregation of devotees making offerings in a thanks giving ritual on the penultimate day of the four-day festival.

The Ganga was the most favoured stretch for the teeming devotees who sought blessings for prosperity and well being of their wards.

Paying their obeisance for a good harvest, the masses made offerings which included seasonal fruits and dishes made of principal crops. The festival will conclude early tomorrow with an offering to the rising sun and the distribution of these offerings.

With that will conclude the 36 hour fasting aimed at purifying the self and making offerings to all presiding deities of luminous bodies in the universe.

The purity starts with a dip in the Ganga on the first day of the festival, followed by a communion partake of specially cooked food before undertaking the fast.

Keeping with the times, the practice of the community making the pathway to the ghats (banks) this time had a touch of the aesthetic. Rangolis, flowers and crotons decked spruced up roads, receiving with fervour those undertaking the pilgrimage. The ghats and the city have been lit up to welcome the pilgrims who will walk to the ghat chanting praises of the sun. Statues of the Lord riding his chariot pulled by seven horses dot the capital.

Former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Rabri Devi was among those who paid obeisance at the pond made in her home.

Railway Minister Lalu Prasad skipped the crucial UPA-Left meeting on the nuclear deal to participate in the festivities.

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