Ritika
-Seema Kumari
The festival of sun worship ‘Chhath’ is special in Hindu religion. This time this festival has started from Friday, 28 October. Chhath is the main festival of Bihar. This festival is celebrated with great pomp in Bihar as well as in other states of the country.
The festival of folk faith ‘Chhath’ has a special significance in Munger. Four folk tales are prevalent here regarding this festival. According to one of them, Sita Mata started this festival by observing Chhath fast here.
According to the Anand Ramayana, Maa Sita performed Chhath in the ashram of Rishi Mudgal on a mountain situated in the middle of the Ganges, two kilometers from Babua Ghat in Munger district. The place where Mata Sita did Chhath is currently famous as Sita Charan Mandir. Since then Chhath Vrat started being celebrated all over the country including Anga and Mithila.
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Sunil Kumar Sinha, the city’s famous professor who has been researching Sita Charan for many years, said that from page number 33 to 36 of Anand Ramayana, there is a mention about Sita Charan and Munger. According to the Ananda Ramayana, Lord Rama had killed the Brahmin Ravana, so Rama had committed the sin of killing Brahma. For the liberation of sin, Muni Vashistha, the Vice-Chancellor of Ayodhya, sent Lord Rama and Sita Mata to the Mudgal Rishi in the then Mudgal (the then name of Munger).
Sage Mudgal performed Brahmahatya Mukti Yagya at present Kashharni Ghat to Lord Rama and ordered Mother Sita to stay in his ashram. Since women could not participate in the yajna, Mother Sita observed a five-day long Chhath fast of sun worship on his instructions while staying in the ashram of sage Mudgal.
During Surya worship, Mother Sita offered Arghya to the setting sun towards the west and the rising sun towards the east. Even today, in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, there are traces of the feet of Sita towards the west and east. There are marks of soup, dala and lota on the slab.
The sanctum sanctorum of the temple remains in the womb of the Ganges for six months in a year and remains elevated for six months when the water level of the Ganges recedes. Ram Baba of the temple said that earlier people used to come here to worship the mark made on the stone plate. In 1972, a conference of saints was held in Sita Charan. At the same time, on the request of the people, a decision was taken to build Sitacharan temple. This temple was completed in 1974. People’s wishes are fulfilled by performing Chhath in the temple premises.
