Chhath Puja 2026

Chhath Puja is a four-day Vedic festival dedicated to Surya (the Sun God) and Chhathi Maiya (Usha, the goddess of dawn). It falls on Shashthi tithi of Kartik Shukla Paksha, six days after Diwali. The festival is most deeply rooted in Bihar, Jharkhand, and eastern Uttar Pradesh, though its observance has spread to every corner of India and the diaspora.

The four days follow a rigorous sequence: Nahay Khay (ritual bathing and single sattvic meal), Kharna (a 12-hour fast broken with kheer and roti at sunset), Sandhya Arghya (evening offering of arghya to the setting sun while standing waist-deep in water), and Usha Arghya (dawn offering to the rising sun on the final morning). The devotee (usually a woman) observes a 36-hour nirjala fast spanning the third and fourth days — one of the most demanding vratas in Hindu practice.

The panchang role centres on the Shashthi tithi: the evening arghya must occur when Shashthi is active during sunset, and the morning arghya when Saptami coincides with sunrise. The exact sunrise and sunset times are critical — even a few minutes' difference matters, making location-specific panchang data essential. Offerings of thekua (a wheat-jaggery sweet), fruits, and sugarcane are placed in bamboo baskets (soop) and presented to the sun.

Chhath is remarkable for its absence of idol worship and priestly intermediation — the devotee communicates directly with the cosmic source of life. It is among the oldest surviving Vedic rituals, preserving practices described in the Rigvedic hymns to Surya and Usha. The riverbank gatherings, with thousands of devotees standing in water offering arghya, create one of the most visually powerful scenes in Indian religious life.