Devotees prepare prasad for Kharna at Collectorate Ghat in Patna on Monday evening. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, Oct. 31: Residents of the state capital celebrated Kharna by fasting through the day and feasting on kheer after sunset.

Some devotees rushed to the Ganga to collect water to prepare the evening prasad. Others preferred to stay away from the hullabaloo of the ghats and pray at home.

Kankerbagh resident Karuna Srivastava said: “Kharna is a very important day, as the fasting starts today. We break the daylong fast after sunset. Then, we prepare kheer with rice and jaggery. This is eaten with roti, ginger and radish. As everything must be pure, we use jaggery and not sugar.”

The homemaker, who has been celebrating the festival for the past 18 years, added: “It is essential to use pure Ganga water to prepare the prasad for the festival. But since my house is very far from the river, I have used tap water and mixed some Ganga water in it. The tap water becomes pure by association. As it is said, if your mind is clean, so is everything else.”

After the daylong fast, evening is a time to celebrate for the devotees. “After I break my fast, I call all my friends in the evening and distribute prasad among them,” said Srivastava. While some devotees stressed the essence of the rituals, others claimed that devotion was more important.

Digha resident Pratima Verma said: “I have been observing the Chhath rituals for 20 years at different places because my husband has a transferable job, and it was not always possible for us to return to Patna during the festival. Many people told me that it was important to observe the rituals in the most traditional manner, without innovations.

“But when I told mother about my reservations, she said there was nothing to worry about as a pure heart is more important than blindly observing the rituals. My mother told me to sprinkle some Ganga jal (water) and everything would be pure. By God’s grace, everything is fine.”

One ritual that most devotees observe, however, is preparing the prasad on Kharna. Traditionally, it is cooked in bronze or clay utensils over a mud hearth and mango-wood fire. These days, some devotees also use steel utensils.

“I prefer steel utensils as it is easier to cook in them,” said Renu Ranjan, a homemaker and resident of Anisabad. “There is no harm in it,” she added. “It is important to perform the puja with a pure heart.”