A large number of devotees in the city paid obeisance to the Sun god with traditional fervour at various ghats, ponds and on the roof of their houses, on Tuesday(Nov. 1, 2011) evening and Wednesday morning on the occasion of 'Chhath'.
On the occasion, at the time of sunrise on Wednesday morning, devotees burst crackers and exchanged greetings with one another after nearly 36-hour-long fast. They later had 'prasad' like 'thekua' and fruits.
Not just ghats and ponds were spruced up and lighting arrangements made, but the whole city- Janakpurdham, was decorated with lights and idols of Sun god on his seven-horse chariot were installed in pandals.
Though thousands of devotees thronged various ghats here, considering the safety and hygiene factors many preferred to pay obeisance either at the terrace of their houses or nearby ponds.
Ranjit Jha, who celebrated Chhath for the first time this year, said, "The Chanush Sagar has become very polluted and dirty. When I visited a neighbourhood ghat on day one, I found it very slippery and giving a foul smell; so second day onwards I arranged a water 'kund' at my terrace."
Another devotee Rakesh Jha, a resident of Ekrahiya, who had been paying obeisance at a Bellauche ghat for the last four years, this year preferred a nearby pond. "Now, Bellauche has widened its area, so its now easy for us to celebrate Chath nowadays."
We were expecting a crowd of around 8 lakh this year,a devotee said.
"The event went smoothly and no untoward incident took place. We were apprehensive that devotees might burst crackers on the Ram temple premises, disturbing our animals, as had happened in previous years, but, thankfully, nothing such happened this year," he added.
No casualty or any serious incident was reported on both the days of Chhath. Anti-social elements were successfully kept at bay.
Jivesh jha
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