Chhath Puja is a profoundly loved celebration in eastern India and parts of Nepal. It is presently picking up nearness in Maharashtra as well. Through this celebration, steadfast communities in Maharashtra are being bound more closely. Their confidence is fortified. Their solidarity is extended. This alter is being taken note over cities and country zones alike.
In 2025, numerous steps are being taken to honor Chhath Puja more obviously. At the national level, endeavors are underway to get Chhath recognized by UNESCO as intangible social legacy. The Prime Serve has communicated back for this move.
The imagery of Chhath is being lifted. It is being seen not fair as a territorial custom, but as a national social treasure. This article investigates how Chhath Puja is reinforcing communal bonds in Maharashtra. It too highlights later patterns, and how the celebration is being adjusted in a state where it was once rare.
What Is Chhath Puja?
Chhath Puja is committed to Surya (the Sun God) and Chhathi Maiya (a sister or female angle of the Sun). The celebration endures for four days. It combines fasting, water revere, and advertising supplications at dawn and sunset.
Read Also: Jharkhand’s Riverbanks Resonate with Chhath Chants
No icons are utilized. The advertising is made straightforwardly to the sun’s beams. In 2025, Chhath is anticipated to be celebrated from October 25 to October 28 in numerous places.
The day of Sandhya Arghya (advertising to the setting sun) and Usha Arghya (advertising to the rising sun) are key minutes. The customs request virtue, commitment, and restriction. Clean water, characteristic offerings, and basic nourishment are used.
Chhath Enters Maharashtra: A Developing Presence
Traditionally, Chhath was primarily watched in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and Nepal. In Maharashtra, the celebration was generally obscure or watched as it were by vagrant communities from those regions.
But in later a long time, Chhath Puja has started to take root in places such as Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, and Nashik range. In transient neighborhoods, working environment colonies, and nearby sanctuaries, Chhath is presently being organized. It is being acknowledged more broadly, past fair the migrant groups.
This appropriation is being driven by a few factors:
- The expanding nearness of individuals initially from Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern UP, who presently live in Maharashtra.
- Social media and computerized devices, by which Chhath melodies, hones, and pictures are shared.
- The crave by neighborhood communities to protect social character in a modern region.
By these changes, Chhath is being woven into Maharashtra’s social fabric.
How Chhath Ties Communities?
1. Shared Ceremonies, Shared Emotion
Chhath is not a private custom alone. It is watched freely at riverbanks, lakes, or temporary ghats. In Maharashtra, community lakes, lakes, or indeed manufactured water bodies are utilized. Individuals accumulate at first light or nightfall. The same melodies are sung (Chhath geet). Inside and out, a shared otherworldly temperament is created.
When numerous individuals supplicate together, the feeling of having a place is reinforced. Community pioneers and volunteers are regularly included. Clean-up, course of action of ghats, lighting, and security are all done mutually. In that handle, bonds are made.
2. Ladies at the Center
Like in other states, ladies play a central part in Chhath Puja in Maharashtra as well. Numerous ladies watch fasts. They get ready offerings. They lead customs. This gives them otherworldly organization. It moreover gives them a space to lead in a communal setting.
By gathering in open places, ladies from distinctive regions meet one another. Fellowships are recharged. Social bolster is built. The celebration gets to be a social arrange, not fair a devout duty.
3. Cross-Cultural Bridges
Because Chhath is generally unused in Maharashtra, individuals from diverse etymological and social foundations begin association. Marathi local people may help transients in organizing celebrations. Civil specialists might participate with Chhath committees for framework. This makes dialogue.
In a few ghat committees, Marathi, Hindi, Maithili, Bhojpuri, and other dialects are utilized side by side. Conventions combine. Neighborhood craftsmanship shapes might be consolidated (for illustration, Marathi reverential tunes blended with Chhath geet). Through this cross-cultural mix, common regard is built.
4. Youth Engagement and Computerized Participation
Younger eras in Maharashtra are being drawn to Chhath by means of social media, recordings, and photography. Live streams are getting to be common, so those distant absent can connect essentially. In 2025, numerous computerized endeavors are arranged for Chhath observance.
Young volunteers oversee coordinations, social media scope, and mindfulness. They share recordings of dawn and dusk supplications, which tie removed aficionados in feeling. Hence, indeed those not physically display feel tied to the community.
Challenges & Adjustments in Maharashtra
- When a celebration voyages to a unused locale, challenges must be dealt with. Maharashtra is no exception.
- Lack of common water bodies in urban neighborhoods is a enormous imperative. To overcome this, counterfeit ghats or tanks are installed.
- Sanitation and swarm control gets to be basic. Nearby districts must coordinate to give water, toilets, and safety.
- Cultural affectability is required. The timing, sound levels, and space utilize must regard nearby norms.
- Permission and control: In a few regions, authorization must be gotten for huge social occasions close water bodies.
Awareness among local people: A few nearby citizens may not be recognizable with Chhath and might stand up to commotion or space utilize. Exchange is needed.
In numerous places in Maharashtra, adjustment steps are being taken. Littler lakes, clean-up drives, and coordination with civil bodies are being utilized. Numerous bunches receive “eco-Chhath” standards (no plastics, no pollution).
Also, in a few civil regions, counterfeit lakes or press tanks are organized to act as ghats. In any case, debate have emerged when the quality or licenses were addressed. For illustration, in Thane (in the Mumbai metropolitan zone), a temporary worker purportedly introduced an press tank instep of a flawlessly made fake lake, and fake bills were charged to be submitted.
Conclusion
Chhath Puja is a celebration wealthy in commitment, teach, and straightforwardness. It is presently fashioning unused bonds in Maharashtra. It is making a difference vagrant communities protect their culture. It is drawing neighborhood people into intercommunal regard. This celebration, with its messages of immaculateness, appreciation to nature, and community concordance, can serve as a bridge between diverse cultures.
In 2025, with eco-focus, administrative back, and upward energy, Chhath is getting to be more than a celebration for eastern India—it is getting to be a pan-Indian celebration of confidence and community. In Maharashtra, through each dawn and dusk, through each advertising, and through each melody, Chhath is making ties of dedication and solidarity over streets, dialects, and confidence.
