🌅 Chaiti Chhath (Chaitra Shukla Shashthi — Surya Shashthi) Puja Vidhi — step by step
This is the household vidhi of the four days of Chaiti Chhath — the same as the Kartika Chhath; with care about water in the heat.
How to do Chaiti Chhath (Chaitra Shukla Shashthi — Surya Shashthi) — the steps
- Nahay-Khay (Chaturthi): the vrati bathes in the morning at the river/pond/home, purifies the house and kitchen, a new clay hearth or a purified stove; one sattvic meal — arwa rice, chana dal, pumpkin (bottle gourd) sabzi in rock salt and ghee (no onion-garlic); the family the same; the vrati sleeps on the floor.
- Kharna/Lohanda (Panchami): a waterless fast all day; in the evening after sunset (time above) rasiyav kheer of jaggery-rice-milk and roti (with ghee) on the clay hearth with mango wood — bhog first to Chhathi Maiya and Surya (on a banana leaf), then the vrati takes the prasad in solitude and silence (no noise — the custom is that the vrati stops eating on hearing a sound), then family and neighbours; after this 36 hours waterless.
- Shashthi — the day: making the prasad — thekua (wheat flour-jaggery/sugar-ghee, moulded, on mango wood), kasar (rice flour-jaggery laddoos), rice laddoos; decorating the soop and daura (bamboo baskets) — sugarcane (5/7, with leaves), coconut (with husk), daabh (green coconut), lemon (large — daabh lemon), banana (bunch), apple-orange-guava-custard apple, water chestnut, turmeric and ginger plants, radish, suthni, lamp, paan-supari, kumkum-sindoor, arwa rice, incense; new yellow-red clothes.
- Sandhya Arghya (Shashthi — sunset, time above): the family carries the soop and daura on their heads to the ghat (river/pond/an artificial tank at home) singing; the vrati waist-deep in water facing west; the arghya of milk and water to the setting Sun (holding the soop, family members in turn), 'Om Ghrini Suryaya Namah'/Chhath songs ('Kelwa ke paat par…', 'Kanch hi baans ke bahangiya'); lamps lit, the night at the ghat; the vrati waterless, some all night at the ghat (kosi bharai — for those with vows: clay elephant, kalash, 12/24 lamps in a sugarcane canopy).
- Usha Arghya (Saptami — sunrise, time above): to the ghat again at dawn, facing east, the arghya to the rising Sun; distributing the prasad (thekua-fruit — to anyone who asks, asking for 'Chhath prasad' is auspicious); back home the puja of Chhathi Maiya, the vrati's paran — with ginger-jaggery-water/thekua, then a meal (plain — pumpkin-rice or kheer); prasad to the family, neighbours and village.
- Care in the heat: temperatures of 35°+ in Chaitra — the risk of dizziness/heatstroke in 36 hours waterless — the vrati stays in the shade, water in extreme weakness (the goddess forgives — life first); check the depth and slipperiness of the water at the ghat; the family with elderly vratis.
- Vows: the Chaiti or Kartika Chhath on the fulfilment of a vow for children/freedom from illness/marriage; kosi bharai (the sugarcane canopy, the clay elephant, 12/24 lamps — at home after the Sandhya Arghya and at the ghat at the Usha Arghya); the dandavat yatra (prostrating from home to the ghat — a vow custom, according to health).
- The ghat at home: if there is no river, an artificial tank (plastic tub/pit) in the courtyard/on the roof, open to west and east; the Sun should be visible — in clouds the arghya at the time; migrant families (Delhi-Mumbai-Bengaluru) — Chhath ghats/the Yamuna/the seashore/society tanks.
Puja samagri checklist
Soop and daura, sugarcane, thekua-kasar, daabh-lemon, the clay hearth — the Chaiti Chhath list (like Kartika).
- Bamboo soop (2-4), daura/dalia (basket), clay hearth, mango wood, brass/clay vessels, banana leaves
- Sugarcane (5-7 with leaves), coconut (husk), daabh (green coconut), large lemon (daabh lemon), banana (bunch), apple-orange-guava-custard apple-pineapple, water chestnut, radish, suthni, turmeric-ginger (with plants), sweet potato, paan-supari
- Thekua: wheat flour, jaggery/sugar, ghee, fennel, coconut, mould; kasar/laddoo: rice flour, jaggery; Kharna: arwa rice, jaggery, milk, wheat flour (roti), ghee
- Nahay-Khay: arwa rice, chana dal, pumpkin/bottle gourd, rock salt, ghee
- Puja: sindoor (long — to the nose, the vrati), kumkum, turmeric, arwa rice, incense-lamp (clay lamps, ghee/mustard), camphor, incense sticks, sandalwood, flowers (marigold-lotus), mauli, new yellow-red clothes (sari/dhoti)
- Arghya: brass/copper pot (milk-water), prasad-fruit-lamp in the soop; kosi (vow): clay elephant, kalash, 12/24 lamps, sugarcane canopy
- Chhath songs/katha; the heat: umbrella-shade, ORS (after the paran), water for the family
Thekua, kasar, rasiyav kheer, pumpkin-rice, fruit-sugarcane — the Chhath prasad
The Chhath prasad with full purity — on the clay hearth/mango wood, brass and clay vessels, in bathed-pure clothes; pumpkin-rice at Nahay-Khay, jaggery kheer and roti at Kharna, thekua-kasar-fruit-sugarcane at the arghya; more fruit in the heat (watermelon-muskmelon-pineapple-sugarcane); the paran with ginger and jaggery.
- Nahay-Khay: arwa rice, chana dal, pumpkin (sitaphal)/bottle gourd sabzi in rock salt and ghee, mango tikora (Chaitra)
- Kharna: rasiyav (kheer of jaggery-rice-milk — on the clay hearth), ghee roti, banana; the vrati in solitude, then everyone
- Thekua (khajuria): wheat flour + jaggery water/sugar + ghee + fennel-coconut — pressed in a mould and fried in ghee; kasar: rice flour + jaggery laddoos; rice laddoos
- The fruit of the soop: banana, apple, orange, guava, custard apple, pineapple, watermelon-muskmelon (Chaitra), coconut, daabh, daabh lemon, sugarcane, water chestnut, radish, suthni, sweet potato, ginger-turmeric
- Paran (after the Usha Arghya): ginger-jaggery-water, thekua, fruit; then pumpkin-rice/kheer — plain; lemon water-ORS in the heat
- Nepal Terai: the same thekua-bhuswa (rice-jaggery), sel roti (some homes); Jharkhand: thekua-kasar, arsa
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- The four days in order — Nahay-Khay, Kharna (waterless after the evening kheer), Sandhya Arghya (sunset — time above), Usha Arghya (sunrise)
- The prasad on the clay hearth/mango wood, brass and clay vessels, pure clothes; no onion-garlic in the house
- The vrati rests in the shade in the heat, water in weakness (life first); safety and depth at the ghat
- Prasad for all — thekua to whoever asks; keep the ghat clean, no litter
- Kosi bharai on the fulfilment of a vow; an experienced vrati alongside a first-timer
❌ Don't
- No arghya away from the sunset/sunrise time; in clouds the arghya in the direction at the time
- No water or food after Kharna (strict), but breaking the vrat in heatstroke, dizziness or pregnancy is no sin — the goddess is a mother
- No unwashed hands on the prasad/soop, no leather items (belt-purse) at the ghat, no plastic-thermocol, no oil or plastic in the river
- No noise, intoxicants or crackers at the ghat; no calling out to the vrati at the time of the Kharna prasad
- No 36 hours waterless without preparation — heart patients and diabetics ask a doctor; as strict as Kartika
Vrat katha
King Priyavrata and Queen Malini were childless; a son was born through sage Kashyapa's yajna but stillborn; the king went to give up his life in grief, when the goddess Shashthi appeared from the sky — 'I am Shashthi, B… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Chaiti Chhath in {Y} — all four days?
This year's four days are above — Nahay-Khay (Chaitra Shukla Chaturthi), Kharna (Panchami), Sandhya Arghya (Shashthi — the main), Usha Arghya (Saptami); the fourth to seventh day of Chaitra Navratri, before Ram Navami; sunset-sunrise for Delhi — see your city's panchang.
What is the difference between Chaiti Chhath and the Kartika Chhath?
The vidhi, prasad and severity are one — both the Surya-Chhathi Maiya worship of a Shukla Shashthi, four days; the Kartika one (6 days after Diwali, October-November) is the main and vast (a holiday in Bihar-Jharkhand, lakhs at the ghats), Chaiti (March-April) the year's first — for those with vows/those keeping both; the heat of Chaitra — waterless is harder.
Can one begin with Chaiti Chhath the first time?
Yes — it may begin with any Chhath (usually on the fulfilment of a vow or by family tradition); once begun the custom is to keep it every year (at least Kartika), not to abandon it midway — if you cannot, have another vrati of the family or a Brahmin/neighbour do it; take the help of an experienced vrati the first time.
How to manage 36 hours waterless in the heat?
A full meal of the Kharna kheer, rest at night; on the arghya day a shaded airy place, little talking, standing in the water at the ghat gives coolness; at the signs of dizziness, vomiting or fainting water-ORS at once — the vrat is not regarded as broken (the law of emergency); the pregnant/heart patients/diabetics should not keep it — another woman of the family does; the paran slowly after the Usha Arghya (ginger-jaggery-water first).
Who is Chhathi Maiya?
The goddess Shashthi — Brahma's mind-born daughter, the Sun's sister (folk), the goddess of a newborn's sixth day (worshipped on the sixth day after birth) — protector of children; also linked with Katyayani (the sixth goddess of Navratri); no idol — worshipped in the Sun, water and grain; Skanda Mata/Shashthi in the south, 'Shashthi Thakuran' in Bengal.
How to do Chhath at home if there is no river?
An artificial tank on the roof/in the courtyard (a tub/pit with waist- or knee-deep water), open to east and west; the soop and daura there, the arghya at sunset and sunrise; at a society tank/the ghat of a Chhath committee too; the spirit and the time are what matter — the place is secondary.
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