In order to avoid rush at various lakes, rivers and ponds during Chhath puja many people in the State capital have made alternative arrangements for the purpose. Many people remain confined to their homes to perform all Chhath puja rituals. They offer ‘Arghya’ at makeshift water bodies created at rooftops or inside their house premises.
In recent years, few voluntary groups have started organizing mass Chhath rituals in different localities of the city by creating artificial ponds. One such makeshift pond has been constructed at Ashok Nagar where hundreds of devotees of the locality will be offering ‘Arghya’. Similar ponds have been constructed at Kanke road, Harmu and other localities of the city for the auspicious occasion.
Since last few years this trend is fast catching the attention of Ranchiites. At few places in the city community members make arrangement for artificial ponds for the auspicious occasion of Chhath Puja. “We have created an artificial pond inside the temple premises and every year we make all proper arrangements for the Chhath puja. Pond is divided into various sections and then allotted to the concerned people only residing in the colony,” said Sanjay Mukhiya, a resident of Ashok Nagar.
Earlier, the devotees used to visit the nearest ponds of their localities and perform the Chhath rituals. Even today during Chhath few people would visit different lakes like Jumar river, Swarnarekha river, Harmu river to offer prayer. But, most of the water bodies have either been reduced to sewage and waste disposal dumps or overtaken by human settlements.
However, the trend is slowly changing now and people avoid offering prayer at banks of river and this is also due to ever increasing shift in the course of the river where devotees find it very difficult to trek the large distance for reaching the river water. “As this puja involves lot of arrangements and moreover devotees keep two days fast, so many times during the puja it becomes difficult for the devotee to stand on the river side and perform all rituals, this is due to the course of the river and water level,” said Ranjana Sahay, a devotee.
Similarly, another devotee who performs all Chhath rituals at home has her own reasons to mention. “I have made all temporary arrangement for Chhath puja and since last year I am performing all rituals in my house only. lack of cleanliness at pond side and to avoid rush during the Chhath puja, my family has decided to offer ‘Arghya’ during the Chhath puja at home,” informed, Poonam Sinha.