Mr Sanjay Nirupam and Me At Chhat Puja 2009

Mr Sanjay Nirupam and Me At Chhat Puja 2009, a photo by firoze shakir photographerno1 on Flickr.

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I start a new set at my Flickr photo stream, Chhat Puja 2009 ..I shot it this evening, barefeet dressed like a tiger cub no pun intended...the latest flavor and statement post election in Maharashtra.

I shot from one end of the beach to another,Mr Sanjay Nirupams podium was very grand and awesome, the entire crowd was watching the song recital from the beach, I met him took a few frames and left..

I have been shooting the Chhat Puja Festival from the time Mr Sanjay Nirupam placed it on the festival map of Mumbai in a very big way.

I have tried never to miss this festival , and today I was in real bad shape I have not recovered from my viral fever but I made it to the beach...overriding all odds.

About Chhat Puja from Wikipedia

Chhath (Hindi: छठ, also called Dala Chhath) is an ancient Hindu festival dedicated to Surya, the chief solar deity, unique to Bihar, Jharkhand and the Terai[1]. This major festival is also celebrated in the northeast region of India, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and parts of Chhattisgarh. Even in Tamil Nadu, the migrants from the north celebrate Chhath. Hymns praying to the sun can be found in the Vedas, the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism. Practiced in different parts of India, the worship of the sun has been described in the Rigveda.


The word chhath denotes the number 6 in Hindi [2]and the festival begins on the sixth day of the Hindu lunar month of Kartik, which corresponds to months of October and November in the Gregorian calendar (a week after Diwali). Chhath is the holiest Hindu festival of Bihar & eastern UP. It extends to four days.


The ancient Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata has references to Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas, worshipping the sun, which was believed to help cure a variety of diseases, including leprosy, and ensure longevity and prosperity of family members, friends, and elders. In addition, it is believed that Chhath was started by Karna, the son of Surya, who became a great warrior and fought against the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra War.

This is the only holy festival which has no involvement of any priest (Pandit). People celebrates this festival by thier own.

It is celebrated twice a year: once in the summers (May-July), called the Chaiti Chhath, and once in the winter (September-November) around a week after Deepawali, called the Kartik Chhath. The latter is more popular because winters are the usual festive season in North India, and Chhath, being an arduous observance, requiring the worshippers to fast without water for more than 24 hours, is easier to undertake in the Indian winters.

Chhath is mainly a Bihari festival, and so it is celebrated wherever people from Bihar have migrated. This is a ritual bathing festival that follows a period of abstinence and ritual segregation of the worshiper from the main household for four days. During this period, the worshiper observes ritual purity, and sleeps on the floor on a single blanket. The main worshipers, called Parvaitin (from Sanskrit parv, meaning 'occasion' or 'festival'), are usually women. However, a large number of men also observe this festival. The parvaitin pray for the well-being of their family, for prosperity and offspring. They can only perform Chhath if it is passed on to them from their older generation. However, once they decide to do it, it becomes their duty to perform it every year. The festival is skipped only if there happens to be a death in the family that year.

On the eve of Chhath, houses and surroundings are scrupulously cleaned. One the first day of the festival, the worshiper cooks a traditional vegetarian meal and offers it to the Sun God. This day is called Naha-Kha (literally, 'Bathe and eat'!). The worshiper allows herself/himself only one meal on this day.

On the second day, a special ritual, called Kharna, is performed in the evening after Sun down. On this day also, the worshiper eats his/her only meal from the offerings (Prashad) made to the Sun God in this ritual. Friends and family are invited to the household on this day to share the prashad of the ritual. From this day onwards, for the next 36 hours, the worshiper goes on a fast without water.

The evening of the next day, the entire household accompanies the worshiper to a ritual bathing and worship of the Sun God, usually on the bank of a river, or a common large water body. The occasion is almost a carnival. Besides the main worshiper, there are friends and family, and numerous participants and onlookers, all willing to help and receive the blessings of the worshipper. Ritual rendition of regional folk songs, carried on through oral transmission from mothers and mothers-in-law to daughters and daughters-in-law, are sung on this occasion. The same bathing ritual is repeated on the following day at the crack of dawn. This is when the worshipper breaks his/her fast and finishes the ritual. Chhath being celebrated at the crack of the dawn on a river bank is a beautiful, elating spiritual experience connecting the modern Indian to his ancient cultural roots.

The folk songs sung on the eve of Chhath mirror the culture, social structure, mythology and history of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Nowadays, modern Chhath songs, largely Bollywood film remixes have caught on, but the old tradition still goes strong with a great degree of sanctity. The three main linguistic regions of Bihar: the Maithili, the Magadhi, and the Bhojpuri, and all the various dialects associated with these, have different folk songs; but have an underlying unity in their dedicated to Chhath. The minor nuances of the Chhath rituals, such as in the Kharna ritual, vary from region to region, and also across families, but still there is a fundamental similarity.
[edit] Yogic Viewpoint

As per the yogic view point word Chhath is a compound of two words; Chah means 6 stages and Hath refers to the science of Hath Yog (austerity). The word Chhath refers to the process of consciously obtaining the solar energy through 6 stages involving the methods similar to Hath Yog. Hath here refers to the austerities like fasting, standing in water, etc. This entire process has been termed by the yogis as a Conscious Photoenergization Process having 6 stages.

Stage 1: Fasting and the discipline of cleanliness leads to detoxification of the body and mind. This stage prepares the body and mind of the Vratti (devotee) to receive the cosmic solar energy.

Stage 2: Standing in a water body with half the body (navel deep) in the water minimizes the leak of energy and helps the prana (psychic energy) to move up the sushumna (psychic channel in the spine).

Stage 3: Cosmic Solar Energy enters the Vratti’s pineal, pituitary and hypothalamus glands (Triveni complex) through retina and optic nerves.

Stage 4: Activation of Triveni (tri-glandular complex) Pineal, pituitary and hypothalamus

Stage 5: A kind of Polarization of happens in the spine, which results in the Vratti’s gross and subtle bodies getting transformed into a cosmic powerhouse. This can also lead to the awakening of the latent psychic energy popularly known as the Kundalini Shakti.

Stage 6: The body of Vratti (devotee) becomes a channel, which conducts, recycles and transmits the energy into the entire universe.


en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chhath