Chhath 2025: A Missing Girl and The Dam in A Bihar Township
The Nahay Khay observance in Bentonville, USA. (Image Bihar Foundation on X)
The sight of women carrying sups—bamboo winnows filled with fruits and pieces of sugarcane—beside upright banana plants always lifted her spirits.
By S. Jha
Mumbai, October 26, 2025 —In the early 1980s, a power station township—then part of Bihar, now in Jharkhand—descended into a somber evening. A young girl, a sixth-grade student, had gone missing.
For days, she had been pleading with her mother to observe Chhath Puja, wanting her to participate like the other women in the township.
The thermal power station, built with Soviet assistance, drew water from a nearby dam for cooling purposes. That vast reservoir, formed by rainwater, not only powered turbines but also became the heart of the township’s cultural life. Today, the same dam forms the scenic backdrop of a buzzing film city developed by the Jharkhand government to attract creative investments.
The girl had grown up celebrating Chhath by the dam. She would dress neatly, join her family, and walk to the water’s edge, where hundreds gathered to worship the setting sun—the first arghya.
The sight of women carrying sups—bamboo winnows filled with fruits and pieces of sugarcane—beside upright banana plants always lifted her spirits. She was especially fond of the Chhath Geet, the devotional songs sung by Sharda Sinha, the music professor whose sonorous voice helped carry the festival’s essence far beyond Bihar.
As the sun dipped beyond the far ridge of the dam, the girl and her family returned home with heavy hearts. She wanted to stay longer, to hold on to that moment of collective devotion. But she relented, as her parents reminded her that they would return soon for the second arghya, the dawn prayer to the rising sun.
In her neighborhood, Sharda Sinha’s songs would herald Chhath days in advance. Even though her mother never undertook the ritual, the girl followed the traditions—from Nahay Khaye, eating only after a ritual bath, to Kharna, the evening that marked the start of the 36-hour fast. She would spend hours at her friends’ homes, watching families prepare, as hundreds gathered to share the ritual meal.
While the festival is led by women, many men also keep the demanding fast. According to legend, Chhathi Maiyya began the ritual in devotion to the Sun God. By coincidence—or faith’s design—Karna of the Mahabharata, also a son of the Sun, ruled Ang Pradesh, believed to cover parts of modern-day Bhagalpur, Munger, and Khagaria in Bihar.
That year, the township went dark as the girl did not return home. Two days remained before the start of Chhath. Her father finally went to the police. A massive search began. By morning, her body was found floating in the waters of the dam.
The police found their first clue after speaking to her younger brother. The little boy said, “Didi asked me to go home after we reached the dam.”
Her mother, shattered, told officers that the girl had been urging her for days to perform Chhath Puja that year.
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