Chhath Puja
The austere sun festival — offerings to the setting sun first, then the rising one.
Why is Chhath Puja celebrated?
Chhath is thanksgiving to Surya, the sun, and Chhathi Maiya, protector of children — performed with a rigour few festivals demand: a 36-hour waterless fast, standing waist-deep in water at dusk and dawn. Its most distinctive teaching is the first arghya to the SETTING sun — gratitude that honours decline as fully as rise.
The story behind Chhath Puja
The Mahabharata’s Draupadi and Karna, the sun’s own son, are both remembered as Chhath observers — Karna offering arghya waist-deep in the Ganga daily. Legend also credits Sita with performing it on the Saryu’s banks after returning to Ayodhya.
How Chhath Puja is celebrated
Four days: Nahay-Khay (purifying bath and one pure meal), Kharna (day-long fast broken with gur kheer at night, then the 36-hour fast begins), Sandhya Arghya (evening offerings of thekua and fruit in bamboo soops to the setting sun at a ghat), and Usha Arghya at sunrise, after which the parvaitin breaks the fast.
Chhath Puja across India
Patna’s Ganga ghats host lakhs; Delhi, Mumbai and every Purvanchali colony builds temporary ponds and ghats; Nepal’s Terai celebrates identically. No priest is required — the vratti and family perform everything.
Chhath Puja in housing societies
Societies with Bihari and Jharkhandi families now build Chhath ghats at the compound’s water body or an inflatable pool — needing water safety, night lighting, and shared soop/prasad logistics. Committees that fund a clean common ghat earn enormous goodwill; the costs are modest and easy to publish.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the setting sun worshipped first in Chhath?
Chhath uniquely honours the sun’s decline before its rise — gratitude without conditions, and a reminder that endings deserve reverence too.
How strict is the Chhath fast?
The main vratti keeps roughly 36 hours without food or water, standing in water for both arghyas — it is among the most austere observances in the Hindu calendar.
What is thekua?
The signature Chhath prasad — a wheat-flour, jaggery and ghee cookie, hand-pressed and fried, offered in bamboo soops and shared after Usha Arghya.