Bihar: CM Nitish Kumar offers 'Araghya' as part of Chhath Puja celebration

Patna (Bihar) [India], November 20 : As Chhath Puja celebrations are in full swing in different parts of the country, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar took part in the celebrations and offered 'Araghya' to the rising sun in Patna.
CM was seen offering 'Araghya' at a poolside where women devotees were performing rituals; later, he also received Prashad.

Meanwhile, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan was also spotted taking part in Chhath Pooja and offering prayers following rituals in Odisha's Sambalpur district.
Uttar Pradesh Congress President Ajay Rai also reached Ganga ghat in Varanasi to offer 'Araghya' along with his family and prayed for the well-being of the entire country, especially for the safe return of 41 labourers trapped in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi.
Apart from that, visuals showed people from West Bengal's Kolkata, Durgapur, Asansol, Kulti, Bihar's Patna, Muzaffarpur, Buxar, Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Maharashtra's Mumbai, Pune, and Jharkhand's Dhanbad, Ranchi, among other places, celebrating Chhath Puja with much reverence.
Similarly, in Kerala's Ernakulam, people were seen offering 'Arghya' on the occasion of Chhath Pooja. "This festival started in Bihar, Jharkhand and the North East first, now it's celebrated everywhere in India with vim and vigour...It's also called the worship of nature...The importance of Chhath Puja is increasing day by day," said one devotee, speaking to ANI.
Meanwhile, drone visuals from Delhi's Kalindi Kunj showed a sea of people participating in the festival dedicated to Lord Surya.
The four-day festival of Chhath kicked off on Friday and is regarded as the festival of purity, goodwill, and faith. The Chhath Pooja is a festival in which devotees worship and make offerings to the setting and rising sun.
On Monday morning, the fasting devotees would make offerings to the rising sun and break the fast. Chhath Puja is celebrated every year with much exuberance in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bengal.
However, celebrations are also witnessed in the national capital, where a large section of people from the aforementioned states live. Devotees especially take the fast and worship the sun for the long lives and well-being of their family members, also praying for their expectations and attempts to come true.
The trend of celebrating the festival of Chhath is believed to have started in the Hilly regions of Nepal after the political change of 1990 when democracy was restored in the Himalayan Nation.
It is believed that a person's desires and prayers from the heart's core will bring blessings. During the time of fasting, only those foods that are considered to be pure are consumed and cleanliness is one thing that is cared for the most during the period.
This festival witnessed a high participation rate of women, is marked with fanfare and is also regarded as an occasion to take a break from household chores and be refreshed.