Chhath Puja is the four-day Surya-Shashthi vrat observed principally in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, parts of Nepal, and now wherever the Bihari diaspora has settled. The four days in 2026 run from Tuesday 13 November (Nahay-Khay) through Friday 16 November (Usha Arghya, also called Paran). The vrat is anchored to Kartika Shukla Chaturthi to Saptami, with the principal arghyas (water offerings) at sunset on Shashthi (15 November) and at sunrise on Saptami (16 November). Below is the day-by-day structure, the science of the ritual at the riverbank, and what makes Chhath uniquely austere among major Hindu festivals.
The four days in 2026
- Day 1 (Tue 13 Nov 2026): Nahay-Khay. The vrati (the person observing) bathes in a river or pond, returns, and prepares the single daily satvik meal of kaddu-bhat (pumpkin curry with rice).
- Day 2 (Wed 14 Nov): Lohanda / Kharna. Sunset fast-break with kheer-roti and gud (jaggery) made over a clay stove. Family members share the meal.
- Day 3 (Thu 15 Nov): Sandhya Arghya. The principal sunset offering at the ghat. The vrati stands in the water and offers an arghya of milk-water to the setting sun, with raw fruits, sugarcane, coconut, thekua and other items in a soop (bamboo basket).
- Day 4 (Fri 16 Nov): Usha Arghya. The pre-dawn offering at the same ghat to the rising sun. After this the vrat is broken (paran) with the prasad consumed at the ghat itself.
What the vrat actually marks
Chhath is Surya worship, distinct from any other Surya observance in the Hindu calendar in two ways. First, it pairs the sunset and sunrise offerings, treating the descending and ascending phases of the sun as equal: most Hindu sun worship privileges the rising sun. Second, it invokes Surya through his Shakti, Chhathi Maiya (also called Usha or Shashthi Devi), the sixth-day-after-birth-protector of children. The dual-deity framing (Surya-Chhathi) is the distinctive theological move.
The classical references trace to the Rigveda’s Surya Suktas and to the Mahabharata’s account of Karna, born of Surya and Kunti, who offered worship to his father daily. The Chhathi Maiya story is preserved in folk tradition; she is invoked as the protector of children, and the vrat is undertaken for the longevity and welfare of one’s children specifically.
The intensity of the fast
Chhath is among the most physically demanding Hindu vrats. Standing in cold November river water for the sunset and sunrise arghyas, after a 36-hour nirjala fast (without water) from the Kharna evening meal of Day 2 to the Usha Arghya parana of Day 4, is the standard observance. The vrati does not lie down through the 36 hours; some sleep sitting up. The cold and the lack of water test the body in a way no other festival in the Hindu calendar quite matches.
This severity is part of why Chhath has remained an overwhelmingly household-and-community ritual, not a temple-bound or pandit-driven one. There is no priest required; the householder is the officiant. The community on the ghat is the witness and the support.
The ghats: where the puja happens
Chhath cannot be performed at the home shrine. The arghyas require a water body, ideally a flowing river but a pond, canal or even a portable tank is acceptable. The major Bihari ghats:
- Patna: Gandhi Ghat and Collectorate Ghat on the Ganga, the largest single concentration. Lakhs of vratis line the riverbank at sunset on Shashthi.
- Vaishali, Hajipur, Buxar: the older traditional ghats along the Ganga.
- Munger, Begusarai, Bhagalpur: downstream concentrations.
- Sone, Falgu and Punpun rivers: the parallel tributaries used for ghat puja in inland districts.
- Diaspora ghats: portable tanks at Yamuna ghats in Delhi, Powai and Juhu beach in Mumbai, and even park lakes in Toronto and London now host community Chhath observances.
The Bihar state government formally recognises Chhath as the state’s largest festival, with elaborate ghat infrastructure (lighting, security, sanitation, medical posts) deployed across the four days. The Patna Smart City project includes Chhath ghat upgradation as a recurring item.
The prasad: thekua and the basket
The thekua is the signature prasad of Chhath: a deep-fried sweet biscuit of wheat flour, jaggery (or sugar), ghee and ghee-fried fennel seeds, often shaped with a wooden mould. The soop (bamboo winnowing basket) is the offering tray; into it go thekua, coconut, sugarcane stalks, ginger root, banana, and seasonal fruits. Each item carries its own symbolic charge but the practical reading is that the soop offers the harvest of the season.
The soop is carried to the ghat balanced on the head, the offerings raised toward the setting and rising sun, and after the arghya the prasad is shared with the community at the ghat. Bricks of thekua travel back home, distributed among neighbours over the next day.
Common questions
Can men also be vratis?
Yes; Chhath is observed by men and women. The classical assumption is the woman of the household; many men, especially fathers and grandfathers, also observe it formally. The 36-hour fast and the ghat ritual are the same for both.
Why is there no priest required?
Chhath is a direct Surya-worship vrat without any brahmanical mediation. The Vedic suryopasthana mantra is recited by the vrati directly, in many cases in regional Bhojpuri or Maithili rather than Sanskrit. The absence of a priest is one of the reasons Chhath has remained the most community-rooted of Bihari festivals.
What if no river is nearby?
Diaspora households use park ponds, swimming pools, large tanks set up by community organisations, or even bathtubs filled for the duration. The water needs only to be sufficient for the vrati to stand in up to the knees or waist; the depth is symbolic. For what it’s worth, the riverbank version is the more rewarding observance, but the constructed tank version is canonically accepted.
One limitation worth noting
Some published sources list Chhath 2026 on 4 November rather than 15 November because Kartika by the Purnimanta system (north India) and by the Amanta system (south India and Maharashtra) refer to slightly different months. The dates above follow the Bihar reckoning, which is the canonical reference for Chhath, with Kartika Shukla Shashthi falling on 15 November 2026. For Bihar-tradition households, this is the binding date.
For background see Wikipedia on Chhath and the Drik Panchang 2026 Chhath Puja page.
