The foaming Yamuna: perilous piety

“The water stinks, but what option do we have?”

As the sun begins to set, Bachha Devi is getting ready to immerse herself in the Yamuna river in Delhi. At Kalindi Kunj ghat, she is among thousands from Noida, Delhi and Faridabad who have gathered in the first week of November to celebrate Chhath Mahaparv – an annual festival dedicated to the sun, water, air and nature. “For us Chhath is the biggest festival, bigger than Diwali," says Rajesh Mandal. From Khagaria, Bihar, the 45-year-old is a migrant in Delhi.

On the third and most auspicious day of the four day Chhath puja – sandhya arghya – married women immerse themselves in waist-deep water for around two hours, praying to the setting sun. For devotees based in Delhi and surrounding areas, the dangerously polluted Yamuna river is the only option.

Chhathh is celebrated in Bihar, Jharkhand and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Traditionally, the celebrations include a dip in ponds or other water bodies. But the Yamuna is visibly polluted – thick white foam is skimming on the surface, and the water has a foul smell.

“Just 22 kilometres (or barely 1.6 per cent) of the Yamuna flows through the National Capital Territory,” writes journalist Shalini Singh, “but the wastes and poisons emptied into that little stretch account for close to 80 per cent of all pollution in the 1,376 kilometre river.” (Read: When Yamuna’s ‘dead fish will be fresher’)

In her forties, Bachha is a migrant from Darbhanga in Bihar. She arrived in Delhi 15 years ago and is a domestic worker in Delhi’s J.J. Colony. Today, standing on the banks of the foaming Yamuna, with her fellow devotees, she is concerned about the foam and its impact on her health. But faith combined with limited means, trump her concerns.

“Everyone here is present out of compulsion. We see the foam too but the ponds [set up by the Delhi administration] are very far away. How do we get there in time for sunrise with all the offerings?” she asks.

Bachha Devi says in the 15 years she has been coming here, the Yamuna’s pollution has only gotten worse. “When I first came here there was no foam, but now the water has a pungent smell and a thick layer of foam,” she added.

Faecal matter and untreated sewage in the Yamuna is more than 100 times higher than permissible levels at 18,00,000 MPN/100ml (most probable number per millilitre) when it should not cross 2,500 MPN/100ml, according to a Delhi Pollution Control Committee Water Laboratory report dated 8 October, 2024. So stepping into the water here poses serious skin and other health risks. For devotees like Bachha Devi and others, who commute five to 10 kilometers to Kalindi Kunj ghat for the ritual immersion.

“Kahan hai wo pond? Humko to nahi dikhta, pond dhoondhe ya kaam pe jaye [Where are those ponds the government talks about? We don’t see any ponds. Should we go and find the pond or go to work?],” Bachha Devi asks about the 1,000 artificial ponds said to have been created by the Delhi government.

After offering her prayers, Sarita Devi, another devotee, comes out of the water, wiping the white foam off her saree. She has been coming here for 20 years and believes in the power of her God to protect her from any disease she may contract from the polluted waters. “Bhagwaan ka naam lete hain, kuch nahin hota [Nothing will happen if we take god's name],” she signs off.