New Delhi

Muslims in different parts of Bihar are not only helping to clean the banks of the Ganga and other rivers for the devotees to hold prayers during the ongoing Chhath festival, but many women from the community are also participating as worshippers and believers.

Saira Begum of the Kalibari area of Muzaffarpur district, Bihar, has been observing Chhath fast with full devotion for the last eight years. She says that this fast is especially associated with the Sun God.

Saira started this practice after taking a vow before Chhathi Maiya (The Goddess, feminine energy) in 2015 that she would keep the three days of fasting and celebrate the festival usually associated with Hinduism if her husband's health gets better.

Her wish was fulfilled and it made Saira and her family members perform the Chhath Puja with devotion every year.

 Saira says, "I will continue celebrating the Chhath festival as long as I am alive because it has become a symbol of faith and belief for me."

Jaimun Khatoon, a resident of Bajitpur village in Sitamarhi district, is also a Muslim woman who has been observing Chhath with full rituals for the last several years.

Jaimun Khatoon says that she also gets full support from the people of the Hindu community in this festival.

Other Muslim women of her village also express their faith in this great festival and worship the Sun God. They say that this festival not only gives them strength of faith, but it is also a symbol of social unity and harmony.

Another interesting aspect of the Chhath festival this year is that Muslim prisoners are also celebrating the three-day festival participating in the jails of Bihar.

This time 47 women and 49 male prisoners are observing Chhath fast in Shaheed Khudiram Bose Central Jail of Muzaffarpur, including three Muslims and one Sikh.

 This scene also reflects a new and positive change in the jails of Bihar, where people of different religions and communities are participating in this great festival under one roof, respecting each other's beliefs.

Muslim women who celebrate the Chhath festival start observing ‘purity’ as soon as the Dussehra celebrations are over.

Jaimun Khatoon and Saira Begum say during this period till the culmination of the Chhath they don't cook food with garlic and onion at home. Like others, they walk up to the Ghat of Ganga early morning with the offerings of local crops to the Sun God at sunrise and sunset and pray for the health, prosperity, happiness, and peace of their family.

Thus, Chhath, the great festival of folk faith, is not only giving the message of purity and cleanliness, but it is also presenting an example of communal harmony and unity. People of different communities celebrate this festival while respecting each other's beliefs, promoting tolerance and brotherhood.

The participation of Muslim women in the Chhath festival in Bihar proves that there should not be any kind of discrimination in the name of faith and devotion, and this great festival is equally important for all.