Hyderabad celebrates Chhath Puja with prayers at major water bodies

Hyderabad: With deep religious fervour, thousands of devotees on Sunday evening made a beeline for water bodies at various locations in Hyderabad to observe Sandhya Arghya, the third and most significant day of Chhath Puja.

Fasting devotees stood knee-deep in water at sunset on Sunday, offering prayers to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya. They also offered traditional baskets laden with seasonal fruits and thekua, a traditional sweet.

Organised by several regional associations, including the Bihar Association and Cyberabad Bihar Samiti, Chhath Puja celebrations were held at 28 designated locations across the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), Cyberabad and Malkajgiri limits this year.

Major water bodies, including Tank Bund, Hasmatpet Lake, Durgam Cheruvu and Nallagandla Lake, transformed into bustling cultural hubs, recreating the festive atmosphere of the banks of the Ganga.

The GHMC and local police made extensive arrangements for security, crowd management and sanitation to accommodate thousands of women devotees and their families from Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Following Sunday’s evening rituals, devotees are observing a strict 36-hour waterless fast ahead of Monday morning’s Usha Arghya at sunrise, which will mark the conclusion of the four-day Chhath Puja festival.