Fasting is a basic law in the world’s major religions. The manner of observance, of course, differs such as the timing of the year, the duration, and certain accompanying rituals. Nowadays more and more people are realizing the value of fasting both for spiritual and physical reasons. Ordinarily people fast on religious occasions. In Hinduism, besides the month of Karthik, devotees fast during Navratris and Shivratris, the Chath puja and Karva Chauth. In Christianity there is the Lent, and Catholics also fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. In Judaism the days of fasting are Yom Kippur, Tisha B’av, Fast of Esther, Fast of Gedalia, the 17th of Tammuz, and the 10th of Tevet.

A majority of Buddhists practice some periods of fasting, usually on full-moon days and other holidays. Jains observe what is known as the “Ratri Bhojan Tyag,” in which they do not eat anything after sunset, some abstain from water during this time as well. Members of the Latter-day Saint movement, the Mormons, fast on the first Sunday of each month. In Islam there is the whole month of Ramadan, when the faithful fast from dawn to dusk, for it is believed that this was the month when the Holy Qur’an was revealed. In the Bahá’i Faith, during the last month of the Bahá’i calendar called “Loftiness”, the followers abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset each day for 19 days. Fasting is Nature’s........

© The Statesman