An Archaeological and Ethnographic Exploration of Ritual Survivals within Chhath Puja: Evidence for the Persistance of Early Agrarian Traditions in the Middle Ganga Plains

الملخص

Chhath Puja is one of the most significant ritual traditions of the Middle Gangetic Plains and is widely observed across Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and adjoining regions. Existing scholarship has largely approached the festival through mythology, religious narratives, folklore, and contemporary social practices, while comparatively little attention has been paid to its material, ecological, and archaeological dimensions. This study adopts an ethnoarchaeological perspective to investigate whether the core ritual structure of Chhath Puja preserves elements of an agrarian worldview comparable to that documented in Neolithic settlements and early farming communities of the Middle Ganga Plains.

The study draws upon participant observation conducted over five consecutive years at Chhath celebrations in Patna, Delhi, and rural Bihar, supplemented by informal interactions with practitioners and a comparative analysis of archaeological, archaeobotanical, and environmental data from sites including Lahuradewa, Koldihwa, Mahagara, Chirand, and Jhusi. Particular attention is given to the festival's material vocabulary, including river-centred ritual practices, direct solar veneration, rice-based offerings, the use of water chestnut (Trapa), basketry and woven ritual equipment, clay hearths, and cattle-derived products used in ritual preparation and observance.

Archaeological evidence from Neolithic and early farming contexts of the Middle Ganga region reveals recurring patterns of rice cultivation, wetland resource exploitation, riverine settlement, cord-impressed pottery, reed-based technologies, domestic hearths, and animal husbandry. Although direct historical continuity between prehistoric communities and contemporary ritual practice cannot be conclusively demonstrated, the correspondence between these archaeological patterns and the material components of Chhath Puja is noteworthy. The festival preserves a ritual structure that reflects an agrarian worldview comparable to that documented in Neolithic settlements and early farming communities of the Middle Ganga Plains, while simultaneously incorporating later religious and cultural interpretations.

Rather than viewing Chhath solely as a religious observance, this paper argues that the festival may be understood as a living expression of long-term ecological relationships between people, rivers, agricultural resources, seasonal cycles, and directly experienced natural forces. By integrating ethnographic observation with archaeological evidence, the study contributes to broader discussions on ritual conservatism, cultural continuity, and the interpretive value of living traditions in South Asian archaeology.