After two years of restrictions due to COVID-19, devotional fervour gushed forth across Bihar and parts of India where Biharis are in present on Sunday when salutations were offered to the setting sun on the auspicious occasion of Chhath.
Chhath Puja is celebrated on the sixth day after Diwali and is also known as Surya Sashthi as it is dedicated to the Sun God.
Millions of devotees worshipped the setting sun on Sunday and the rising sun on Monday. It involves offering arghya to the Sun God by fasting women in knee-deep water.
IMAGE: Devotees apply vermilion on each other in Kolkata. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at the Durgiana temple in Amritsar. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja in Gautam Buddha Nagar. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at Har Ki Pauri in Haridwar. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Devotees stand in the Narmada river during Chhath Puja in Jabalpur. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at a makeshift pond in Bengaluru. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at Kalindi Kunj in Noida. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav performs Chhath Puja on the bank of the Ganga in Patna. Photograph: PTI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja in Kolkata. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar performs rituals during Chhath Puja at his residence, 1, Aney Marg, in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and his wife Kalpana Soren offers arghya to the setting sun during Chhath Puja at the Hataniya pond in Ranchi. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at a pond in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Chhath Puja at the Dadar Chowpatty in Mumbai. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: Devotees offer arghya to the setting sun during Chhath Puja in an artificial pond at Sonia Vihar in New Delhi. Photograph: ANI Photo
IMAGE: A devotee offers prayers on the banks of the Lower Lake in Bhopal during Chhath Puja. Photograph: ANI Photo
Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Mahipal Soni/Rediff.com