Some personalities become synonymous with a particular thing. For example, if you say Shehnai, the picture of Ustad Bismillah Khan automatically appears before your eyes. If you say Kathak, you see the image of Pandit Birju Maharaj before your eyes. There are many more such examples. Similarly, if you say Chhath in front of the Purbis in India, the face of Sharda Sinha automatically appears before your eyes. Her melodious voice melts in the ears. However, Sharda Sinha sang a lot in India and abroad and earned a lot of love and respect, but even if you forget all that for a second, her Chhath song was enough.

Just like if all the literature written by the father of the famous writer and hero of the century Amitabh Bachchan is removed, he became immortal on the strength of Madhushala alone. Sharda Sinha will remain immortal on the basis of the song Chhathi Maa alone. You can understand the popularity and purity of this song and its tune by the fact that hundreds of folk artists earned enough name and money by singing a few different lyrics on this tune. A bank even got its caller tune composed on the tune of this song. The lyrics of this song were - Pahile pahile hum kaili, Chhathi maiya barat tohaar i.e. Chhath Mata humne pahile baar aapka vrat rahe hain.

Sharda Sinha got big recognition in 1989. She sang a song in the film Maine Pyar Kiya of a big house like Rajshri Productions. But it is important to look at it from another perspective. At that time Sharda Sinha was 37-38 years old. At the age of 37-38, she had gained so much popularity that when Rajshri Productions had to include a folk song in the film, they chose Sharda Sinha. It was not easy to achieve all this at 37-38. When Sharda Sinha started learning music at the age of 10-11, music was not a priority in our society. People did not look at singers and musicians with a good eye. On top of that, if the girls of the family were taking steps towards singing and playing, then every possible effort was made to stop those steps. People used to taunt them.

It is good that Sharda Ji's father was employed in the education department. Therefore, he took care of his children's likes and dislikes. He gave them the freedom to do whatever they wanted. As a result of this freedom, Sharda Sinha received formal training in music under the supervision of a family named Panchgachiya. Perhaps it was also influenced by the fact that artists like Vidushi Girija Devi and Kishori Amonkar were also singing and playing in different cities of India. Lata ji had become a well-known name in the film industry by that time. Therefore, it was difficult for the girls of the family to sing and play but not impossible. The good thing was that even in the family where Sharda Sinha got married, she got support after initial resistance. Perhaps all this became possible because of the blessings she received from the goddess of music.

This was also a big challenge. If you look at the quality of Bhojpuri songs in the recent past, the matter is very serious there. There are songs that are full of double meaning words. There is open molestation and obscenity. That is why many times people misunderstand the meaning of folk songs. When Sharda Sinha started singing, the number of such songs was negligible. Despite this, it was a challenge that people used to think in their minds - when one has learned singing so well, then why sing folk songs, sing semi-classical, classical, bhajan-ghazal film songs, why only folk songs? Even today, artists associated with folk singing have to answer this question. Padma Shri awardee Malini Awasthi also says that she too was often asked why do folk sing after learning good singing. Well, apart from this question, Sharda Sinha's songs kept making a different path for themselves.

Along with her songs, the sweetness of her personality further increased her popularity. The Government of India honored her with the Padma Bhushan. No one can deny the fact that in the next 2-3 days, when there will be different phases of Chhath Puja, the sweetness of Sharda Sinha's voice will deepen in our memories. Apart from this, as long as words like Dwar, Kinar, Pahun, Amuwa, Sendur, and Maiya exist in our society, Sharda Sinha will remain. As long as rituals like Halki, Mantmangra, and Imli Ghonta exist in weddings, Sharda Sinha will remain.