A day after 18 people died in a stampede duringChhath celebrations here, millions of people across Bihar Tuesday ignored themorning chill and took a dip in rivers and other water bodies to mark the endof the four-day festival.
Devotees also ended their 36-hour fast by praying and floating lighted earthenlamps in the river. This was followed by homemade sweets and other offeringsbeing distributed among family members, relatives and neighbours.
In this Bihar capital, the morning started on a sombre note with manyremembering the 18 people, mostly women and children, who were killed during astampede Monday evening. Thousands gathered on the banks of the Ganges here tocall an end to the festival dedicated to the sun god.
Devotees, locally known as 'varti', wore new cotton clothes, and sang folksongs as they prayed to the rising sun god.
"We offered rituals and prayed to rising sun to mark the end ofChhath," said Sobha Devi, a devotee.
"At the break of dawn, we offered ritual and prayers for divine blessings.Our offering and prayers to the rising sun god was for well-being, prosperityand progress," said Lilavati Devi, another devotee.
The devotees had offered prayers to the setting sun Monday, she said.
The offerings comprised fruits, homemade sweets, vegetables and the first cropfrom the fields.
All the sweets and offerings were arranged in baskets and trays made of bamboo.
Celebrated six days after Diwali, Chhath is dedicated to the sun god. Duringthe festival, married women observe fast for 36 hours, and devotees offerwheat, milk, sugarcane, bananas and coconuts to the sun god, who is consideredthe god of energy and life-force.
The festival also saw a rare show of harmony with people cutting across socialbarriers gathering to celebrate Chhath in villages and towns.
The festival, once limited to Bihar, is fast becoming popular across India dueto the large scale migration of workers from the state.
The festival was widely celebrated in metros like Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai,Bangalore and Hyderabad and states like Assam, Punjab, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradeshand even Tamil Nadu.