A bizarre ritual for Hindu women!

For Hindus, mother is equal to God. This means that mothers, sometimes, have to endure super-human tests in order to establish their godly status. To independent observers, some of these tests can seem to be cruel and, even, inhuman. Here is one such test.
Chhath is a Hindu festival, largely confined to Bihar in India. It starts a few days after Diwali every year and lasts for three days. During this period, elderly women in every family go without food and pray to Sun-God for the welfare of their loved ones. On the third and final day of Chhath, whole families go to the nearest riverbank with head-loads of 'prasad' as offerings to Sun.
The scene here is from the banks of Hindon river in Ghaziabad (where a sizable Bihari community live) on the final day of Chhath in 2007.

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Education

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• DrRam
• DrRam-videos
• India
• Ghaziabad
• Hindu
• Hinduism
• Chhath
• Fast
• Sun-puja

[agnivana]

Dr. Ram, have you lost your mind? No one is forced to perform the pooja and it is not just for elderly women, married men and younger married women performs this too. Can you really please re visit every segments of your video? I see men and younger women performing the pooja as well.

You should stop spreading the fallacious filth just to get the hype and the video popularity. And, do not make mighty Chhathi Maiya angry, her wrath destroys the offenders. Remove your filthy comments

[DrRamOfIndia]

agnivana, Listen, my friend. I made a video about 'Chhath puja' as I saw it practised near Delhi. I did not make any of those comments. They are made, mostly, by Indians who find the practice repugnant. They are not anti-Hindu or anti-Indian comments. These people want to improve Hinduism by getting rid of some of its bad practices.

Like me, they also love India and only want to cleanse India by ending practices which bring shame and ridicule to India's name. What is wrong with that?

[meshmis]

Why women has to suffer to pray for the entire family???

why women have to fast to ask whoever for a long life for her husband...

by the way many Indian don't have enough food to eat, dose it make sense to through food in the river and not give it to poor people.

Hinduism is one of the religions that most of it's ritual doesn't make any sense.

[1slamicLife]

@anant14 The fasting of 'ramzaam' as you call it, the correct word being ramadhan (arabic), is to attain piety. It's got nothing to do with suffering as you seem to be thinking. Islam does not require us to suffer to be good muslims.

[anant14]

@meshmis ,

It is a wrong notion to say that women do this fast !..... Most people do in traditional areas.....& fasting is a spiritual practice......do you call fasting in Ramzaan as "suffering"......

or Gandhiji's satyagraha as "suffereing" ??? or the fasting in the season of Lent (mostly women catholics do that) as "Suffering" ??

All this notion of yours sadly is due to ignorance about one of the greatest living faiths !

Jai Bihar ! Jai Hind!

[anant14]

@DrRamOfIndia ,

All the solar festivals of India include Makar Sankranti, Pongal (South India), Chatth (or Surya Shahst Sanskrit), Ratha Saptami, and many others......

I am a "Man" and I do Chatt also..... you must visit Bihar sometime and see the hospitality of the people.....Chat festival is part of the ancient traditions and culture of Bihar .....and we are proud of our religion, state, country !

Jai Bihar ! Jai Hind!

[anant14]

@DrRamOfIndia ,

The Chat puja celebrated in Bihar (originated in Anga region) dates back from the time of Mahabharata.....Hindu religion is one of the most profound living faiths today.....Fasting is an accepted spiritual practice....the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi himself had faith in the fasts.......The worship

of the "Sun" as a the sustainer of the physical body and emotions is scientific (all take their energy from the Sun )......Rivers and river baths are also a glorious tradition

[DiLxThief]

throw food in the river, when most of the population lives under poverty...

[DiLxThief]

What a stupid way to live your life...

[MsColdCanada]

This doesn't seem too strange to me. If there is a ritual you are looking to eliminate in India how about the baby drop. Both Muslims and Hindus do it so it is not even a religious practice. They let babies fall from a high height and catch them and say it will bring health. From the eyes of one outside this culture dropping babies on purpose is cruel and hurts your national reputation far more than what they do in this video.

[satchi123]

@meshmis u stupid person u dont understand a damn about those rituals..they have a meaning. ur too stupid to understand.

[rivkah]

@meshmis since when is prayer considered suffering? Unless of course they are suddenly obligated to preform ritual and prayer because of their family, or fear of losing their loved ones if they do not comply

[rivkah]

@Rohit84up how can you combine Islam and hinduism when islam is so ademately agasint anything not 'allah'. Hinduism in my eyes is very openminded. Then again I am not forced by my family to preform any ritual or prayer. But islam has no problem killing even their fellow muslims in the name of Allah, to me that is not a religion but a political ideology to make everyone think and believe like them. Hinduism has options at least, many gods and goddesses.