Why This Year’s Chhath Is so Special for Rabri

Here’s why this year’s Chhath Puja is so important at the Yadav’s residence in Patna.

Rabri Devi celebrating Chhath Puja at her residence in Patna. (Photo: Reuters)

The sprawling campus on 10, Circular Road in Patna, the official residence of former Chief Minister Rabri Devi, is reverberating with enthusiasm. But with a difference.

Politics has been put on the back burner for a while. The mood has suddenly turned religious after Rabri said that she had to perform Chhath, the most revered festival in Bihar, with traditional fervour. The kith and kin of Lalu-Rabri are in full attendance to be part of the grand religious celebration.

In Bihar, Chhath is the most auspicious festival celebrated six days after Deepawali. Lakhs of devotees take a holy dip in the Ganga or any river/pond and offer arghya (obeisance) to the Sun God.

They are not supposed to eat or drink and, therefore, remain on fast till the rituals are over. There is a general belief that the Sun God often fulfils the wishes of those devotees who offer arghya twice: Once during the sunset, and then, again, early next morning just before the sun rises. Lakhs of vratees (those who keep the vrat or fast) follow the four-day rituals to propitiate the Sun God.

Lalu Prasad Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi worship the Sun God during the Chhath Puja festival at their house in Patna on November 5, 2008. (Photo: Reuters)

Rabri will be one of those vratees who has to profusely thank the Sun God for fulfilling her wish – that her two sons, Tej Pratap and Tejaswi, follow in their father’s footsteps.

“Surya Devta meri sab manokamna pura kar diye. (Sun God has fulfilled all my wishes),” says Rabri as she expresses her gratitude to the Sun God while explaining how and why this Chhath is so special to her.

Rabri Devi. (Photo: Reuters)

Rabri could not perform Chhath last year because of Lalu Prasad’s heart surgery in Mumbai. Apart from 2014, since the early 80s, she has not missed an occasion, even during her tenure as Chief Minister (from 1997 to 2005), to perform Chhath.

With the RJD emerging as the biggest party in the recently concluded Bihar polls, both sons making their debut as legislators and Lalu in the new avatar of a king-maker, Rabri has more than one reason to thank her lucky stars as well as the Sun God.

Most of her close kin have joined her to be part of the most revered festival. In fact, Lalu too has taken a short break before finalising who, of all the 80 MLAs from his party, will be sworn in as ministers.

I have been celebrating Chhath since Misa (her eldest daughter, the doctor-turned-politician) was five-years-old. But this year’s Chhath holds special significance for me as Sun God has fulfilled all my desires.

<b>Rabri Devi</b>

When she vacated the official residence of the Chief Minister – 1, Aney Marg – and shifted to 10, Circular Road in 2005, Rabri used to offer arghya (obeisance) at the swimming pool, with Lalu and other family members standing by her.

But with Lalu’s fortunes in decline and the RJD reduced to a marginal player, the swimming pool was considered to be inauspicious. It was filled with soil and a new swimming pool was constructed in the north-east portion of the house. The Vastu change yielded rich dividends. Obviously, this year the new pool has been diligently decked up.

Deeply religious, the 56-year-old Rabri does not believe in short cuts and goes through each and every ritual.

While listening to Sharda Sinha’s Chhath songs, she says:

I will seek Sun God’s blessings to keep the health of Saheb (Lalu) good, and a better future for my two sons.

Women worship the setting sun. (Photo: Reuters)

Beeline for Ghats

On the day of Chhath, scores of people make a beeline for different ghats where they walk to the river barefoot and offer arghya.

Environmentalists, however, argue that the Ganga water has been declared unfit for drinking and even for a holy dip as water samples tested in different laboratories have revealed a high presence of coliform bacteria.

A Hindu devotee prays while standing in the waters of the Arabian Sea as she worships the Sun God Surya during the Hindu religious festival of Chhath Puja. (Photo: Reuters)

This is mainly due to the heavy discharge of untreated sewage into the river. With water becoming a scarce commodity and Ganga depleting (as well as getting polluted) day by day, many devotees prefer to perform the rituals at home, mostly on their terrace. This is safe, hygienic and far from the maddening crowds at the ghats.

(The writer is a Bihar-based journalist.)