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The Chhath Puja is essentially a festival of Bihar. It is, however, also celeberated in Eastern U.P & terai region of Nepal. Everywhere, from a small and nondescript village in Bihar to the urban Delhi and Mumbai, Mauritius to Fiji, U.S to Australia, whereever there are people from Bihar, they celebrate the function with great devotion.

It is perhaps the most ancient festival, predates the Vedic period. The Rig Ved devotes considerable space to the hymn on the Sun God. The similar rituals find description in the Sanskrit version of the Mahabharata. Draupadi has been depicted as observing the similar festival. Karna, the legendary warrior who fought against the Pandavas, was the son of the Lord Sun. It is believed that he was a great worshipper of his father and started the difficult and arduous festival of Chhath. He was the king of Ang Desh, modern day Bhagalpur and Munger districts of Bihar.

There is also another folk lore. One of the grandsons of the Lord Krishna suffered from leprosy. It is believed that Krishna had advised to pay obsience to Lord Sun during the month of Kartik and by doing so, his grandson was relieved from the disease. The festival of Chhath started thereafter. Deo in Aurangabad and Baragaon in Nalanda are two very important places associated with the Chhath. These two villages have very ancient and magnificent temples devoted to the Lord Sun. The unique aspect of the Sun temple in Deo is that the temple faces west.

Chhath calls for very arduous observance of rites and rituals , the main person who offers the Puja is required to follow a four days continued observance of abstienence and segregation with common households, complying a very strict and restricted diet, and completely fasting for 36 hours without even taking water. The Arghya is offered to the setting sun and to the rising sun on the following day. Chhath is perhaps the only prayer anywhere in the world where the setting sun is worshipped. This is highly significant which underlines the cultural ethos of the region – respect even the setting sun.

The Chhath festival is a very pious occassion which offers an opportunity to pay our gratitute and thanks to the Sun for bestowing life not only on us but also on all the living beings and on the plant kingdom.

• The Shudras are said not to have the right to study the vedas. How is it then that Sudas, a Shudra, was the composer of the hymns of the Rig Veda.
• The Shudras are said to have no right to  perform sacrifices. How is it that Shudras performed the Ashva-Medha sacrifice ? Why does the Satpat Brahman treat the Shudra as a sacrificer and give the formula of addressing him ?
• The Shudras are said not to have the right to Upanayana.If this was so from the very beginning, why should there be a controversy about it ?Why should Badari and the Samskara Ganpati say that he has a right to Upanayana ?
• The Shudra is not permitted to accumulate property.How is it that the Maitryani and Kathaka Samhitas speak of the Shudras being rich and wealthy ?
• The Shudra is said to be unfit to become an officer of the State. Why is it then the Mahabharat speaks of Shudras being ministers to kings.                                                                                                                              There many such riddles unattended by the scholars and the society.Dr Ambedkar has dealt with the riddle very exhaustibly in his above mentioned book. It is the callous attitude of the society which is responsible to perpetuate this malaise. Even the Government shall take note of only when the society prevails. Let us bring about the change by organizing an introduction to Sanskrit to the most deprived of the Shudras and organizing an Upanayana sanskar for them.  

There is a great discussion on the caste census in our country, The discussion should also focus on the difficulties and their possible remedies and also the programme for the use of census data.

There are castes which are classified differently in different states. Rajak (dhobi) is classified as SC in Bihar but not so in many states,including MP.Kolis are classified as OBC in Gujrat,Karnataka but as ST in Maharashtra,and further they are treated as forward caste in Himanchal Pradesh.

The general ruling goes that only the Hindus have the caste structure, which may include Jains and Sikhs,but in reality there are over 300 recorded Christian castes and over 500 castes in Muslims.

The overwhelming debates in the media revolve around the politics of census and its history. We need to discuss the intricacies of operating the census and the sociological aspects of the caste census.

The intellectuals and serious politicians are requested to divert the course of discussion so that the people at large are benefited, and which will provide the genuine purpose of conducting the caste census. 

             

The appreciation by the Supreme Court of the Yogi Government with regard to its bulldozer policy has really provided a food for thought to the Government. Can there be a uniform code to undertake bulldozer action by the authority ? In fact, in the light of our slow judicial system, it may serve a purpose of justice delivery. There is no gainsaying that the demolition of the building has instilled a sense of fear among the criminals. Those who are opposed to the action often proclaim that the family members are innocent, they are forced to suffer due to illegal action committed by others. This is very important. Any criminal when punished, jailed, he leaves behind his family members, and they suffer. The family also enjoyed the fruits of illegal action, they will have to suffer also. It is precisely why people voice the concern and often discourage when their family members indulge in illegal actions. The fear of bulldozer may, howsoever remote it may sound, give an impetus to the family in particular and society in general, to discourage the wrong and illegal actions being undertaken by any one from the family.

                      Howsoever controversial it may sound, but bulldozer action can expedite the criminal justice system, It will be a matter of satisfaction that only property is at stake and not the life and limb, as it happens in some of the countries where the hand is chopped off for theft and many such inhuman punishments are given. Though the punishments are inhuman, the result is quite encouraging.

                      It is quite a welcome sign that the Supreme Court has taken cognizance of bulldozer and has given a green signal to frame a uniform guideline for this purpose.