Thousands of devotees thronged various ghats of rivers Ganga and Varuna apart from leading ponds including Surya Sarovar in Banaras Locomotive Works (BLW) here on Monday morning to offer ‘arghya’ to Surya Bhagwan (Sun God) at the time of sunrise and with this, the four-day Surya Shasthi festival, popularly known as Dala Chhath Puja, came to an end. Elaborate security arrangements were made at various ghats and ponds. Several traffic restrictions were imposed especially in the central city area of Dashashwamedh, southern part of Assi and Bhaisasur in the northern part near Rajghat.
Right from wee hours the devotees started thronging various ghats of rivers Ganga and Varuna to secure space at the stairs.
The ghats like Dashaswamedh, Rajendra Prasad, Ahliyabai, Man Mandir, Assi, Sheetla, Scindia, Panchganga, Nagwa, Bhainsasur, Rajghat, Narad, Kedar, Hanuman, Ravidas and Tulsi Ghat witnessed gathering of huge number of devotees. Rush was also seen at different ghats of Ramnagar including Shastri and Balua ghats. Besides, a rush of devotees was seen at Shastri and other ghats of river Varuna apart from various kunds and ponds.
Even after 5 am the vrati women started taking baths and standing in the water, carrying ‘dauras’ (baskets made of bamboo sticks) of ‘prasad’ in their hands.
They stood for almost an hour to wait for sunrise. As soon as the sunrise was seen, the women started offering arghya. The family members also did the same and sought the blessings of the vratis. At that time, the ghats were echoed with traditional songs of Chhathi Maiya. Thousands of vratis in view of heavy rush at ghats and ponds preferred to celebrate the festivals at their homes.
Earlier, at Surya Sarovar in BLW General Manager (GM) Basudev Panda offered the first arghya to the setting sun after performing ritual puja. On the occasion, Principal Chief Electrical Engineer SK Srivastava, Vice Chairperson of Women Welfare Organisation Gauri Srivastava, Principal Chief Engineer Vinod Bampal, Principal Chief Security Commissioner Ranveer Singh Chauhan, Chief Quality Assurance Manager Praveen Kumar, Senior Deputy General Manager Vijay, Chief Mechanical Engineer, SQM Ramjanm Choubey, Public Relations Officer Rajesh Kumar were also present.