Window
Seat | Mrinal Chatterjee | 10.11.19
Chhatt
In India, as in other
parts of the world there are several festivals around water bodies- rivers,
lakes, sea. Chatt (called so as it is celebrated six- chhe, in Hindi days after
Diwali), celebrated across Bihar and wherever there are Biharis- is one.
Former bureaucrat and
author Jawhar Sircar writes that “Chhatt is the first celebration of bright
light and the sun, after the blackest night of the year, ie, Kartik amavasya
when Indians light billions of lamps to dispel the dark.”
Photo: Dipak Samantrai |
Chhatt Puja was
originally a women’s festival to thank the sun god for all the munificence and
the bounty conferred, but it is interesting to note how the menfolk joined
later on. They also worship a goddess called Chhatti Maiya, who is equally important
and invoked for her boons. She is sought to be identified with Usha, the Vedic
goddess of dawn — but these are just weak attempts to sanskritise a popular
utsav.
The unique character of this festival is that it worships both dawn
and dusk, the rising sun as well as setting sun. It is actually a four day
festival that starts on the fourth lunar day after the dark amavasya of Kartik,
namely, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shasthi or Chhatt and finally Saptami. Chhatt Puja
is the occasion for the most colourful dresses to come out and there is a lot
of folk songs and dancing as well. Even in distant Mauritius, for instance,
Chhatt songs and dances are an integral part of the nation’s culture that was
brought in by labourers from Bihar. As fasting is mandatory, people take
anticipatory steps by consuming a lot of freshly reaped rice, puris, bananas,
coconuts and grapefruits before beginning their rituals.
Chhat
like rajo in Odisha, was and remains
essentially a very vibrant folk festival, that has no role for the priest and
no compulsion to visit temples. There are however, some stories around Chhat
linking its origin to mythological stories. Draupadi was advised by the sage,
Dhaumya to perform Chhatt puja to Suryadev, to help the Pandavas. There is
another legend that Rama and Sita also offered this puja to the sun god during
this period of the year when they returned from exile to Ayodhya. Sita’s origins were in Janakpur of Mithila,
which is really the epicentre of this worship. The tradition is, however
observed all over in Bihar-Jharkhand and adjoining regions, the Madhesh tract
of Nepal, as well as in far off Fiji, West Indies and Mauritius: wherever
Biharis went.
Chhat initially was a
folk festival. Brahmans usually stayed away from this economically unviable
festival. Nowadays, however, hordes of priests have started occupying vantage
points in the water and ritualized the otherwise simple festival.
What benefits does this
puja confer? Many believe in it as a fertility rite for both humans and
harvests, while other swear by its curative powers. There is also a theory that
ancient yogis and rishis obtained energy directly from the sun’s rays by
exposing their bodies to the sun, while on fast. When one observes how when
other events and pujas damage or destroy the environment with chemical
paints and other poisonous substances, that include firecrackers, Chhatt stands
out as a really commendable environment-friendly worship that uses only bio
degradable items.
Kathchampa
Kathachampa in Odia, Kathchanpa in Bengali, Frangipani in
Hindi and Nepali, Plumeria in English these flowers are indigenous to Mexico,
Central America and the Caribbean, and as far south as Brazil and north as
Florida, but are grown as cosmopolitan ornamentals in warm regions including
our campus in Dhenkanal, Odisha and in most parts of India.
Photo by Soumya Ranjan Bihara. |
Among the Maya, plumerias have been associated with deities
representing life and fertility. However, in Philippines, Indonesia and
Malaysia, the plumeria is often associated with ghosts and cemeteries. See the
differences a simple nice looking flower can evoke.
Hair
Hair
Suddenly
there are a slew of films on hair. To be specific, receding hairline of young
male. There is this Ayushman Khurana starrer Bala, and then Abhishek Pathak directed Ujda Chaman and a telefilm Gone
Kesh. There is even an Odia film titled Bala.
Good
to see films with different storyline besides ‘boy meets girl’ mushy romance or
mar-dhad wala revenge saga.
Tailpiece 1: History of Inventions
One day Aryabhatta sat at home
and started counting the friends who are not afraid of their wives.
That’s how he invented zero (0)
Years later Ramanujam started
counting the number of people who are afraid of their wives.
That’s how “infinity “was
invented.
(Courtesy: Social Media)
Tailpiece 2: Precaution
Ever since
Americans stolen the underwear of Al Bagdadi to confirm his DNA, Hafiz Syed
deployed 10 guards to protect his underwear and
Gen Bajwa moved one step ahead and stopped wearing under wears.
(Courtesy: Social Media)
***
The author, a journalist turned media
academician lives in Central Odisha town of Dhenkanal. An anthology of his
weekly column Window Seat, published
in 2018 has been published as a book. Write to him to get a free e-copy. mrinalchatterjee@ymail.com
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