Surya · Chhathi Maiya
Chhath Puja
The river-bank vrat to the setting and rising sun — austerity as devotion.
Tithi: Kartik Shukla Shashthi
In the simplest words
The gentlest, strictest sun festival: standing in a river at sunset AND sunrise, offering fruit to Surya — thanking the sun we can actually see.
The story & purpose
Chhath asks what few vrats ask — thirty-six hours without water, standing waist-deep in the river, first for the setting sun and then the rising one: gratitude that bows to the sun in both its humilities, not only its noon.
At its centre stands Chhathi Maiya — the sixth-day mother who guards every newborn — and around her a song-canon that needs no loudspeaker to be mighty: 'Kelwa ke paat par' and 'Pahile pahil Chhathi Maiya', carried for decades in Sharda Sinha's voice. From Bihar's ghats the festival has walked with its people — the same arghya now rises from the Thames, the Hudson, and Dubai Creek.
What is done
Nahay-khay & kharna
Two days of purification and the kharna meal open the vrat.
Sandhya arghya
Evening offerings of thekua and fruit to the setting sun, from the water.
Usha arghya & parana
The dawn arghya closes the fast.
Best timings
Sunset of Shashthi and sunrise of Saptami are the two arghya moments.
Exact muhurat varies by city and tradition — for the precise hour, consult a local panchang for your location.
Worth knowing
Chhath has no murti and needs no priest — river, sun, and family suffice.
Bihar's ghats on these evenings are among India's greatest gatherings.
Chhath is kept twice a year: the smaller Chaiti Chhath falls on Chaitra Shukla Shashthi, six days into the spring Navratri.
Mantras of this festival
Note: A few 2026 lists print 18 November; the Shashthi arithmetic from Diwali (8 Nov) supports 15–16 November.