🌅 Chhath Puja (Surya Shashthi) Puja Vidhi — step by step
This four-day vidhi is the standard custom of Bihar-Purvanchal; it is demanding, so the family's support is essential.
How to do Chhath Puja (Surya Shashthi) — the steps
- Day 1 — Nahay-Khay (Chaturthi): the vrati bathes in the morning in a river/pond or at home; the house is washed and cleaned; at noon a single sattvik meal cooked on a new/earthen stove — pumpkin (bottle gourd) sabzi, chana dal, arwa rice, rock salt, ghee — first offered to the sun, then the vrati eats, then the family. Garlic, onion and meat stop from this day.
- Day 2 — Kharna/Lohanda (Panchami): the vrati stays without water all day; after sunset, on an earthen stove with mango wood, jaggery-rice kheer (rasiyav), ghee-smeared roti and banana are cooked and offered to Chhathi Maiya; the vrati eats the prasad in solitude (if there is noise she stops there), then prasad to all. The 36-hour waterless fast begins after this.
- Day 3 — Sandhya Arghya (Shashthi): during the day arrange thekua, kasar (rice laddoos), fruit, coconut, sugarcane, turmeric and ginger rhizomes, water chestnut, a whole bunch of bananas, lime (dabh), suthni, radish etc. in bamboo soops and the daura (basket); a man of the house carries the daura on his head to the ghat.
- At the ghat decorate the earthen sun-altar/kosi (an elephant-shaped clay lamp stand, for fulfilled vows); before sunset (time above) the vrati stands waist-deep in water holding the soop; family members offer arghya of milk and water to the setting sun — 'Om Ghrini Suryaya Namah' or the Chhath songs; five/seven rounds with the soop.
- At night a vigil at the ghat or at home, filling the kosi (for those with vows — 12/24 earthen lamps under a canopy of sugarcane), the Chhath folk songs — 'Kelwa ke paat par ugelan suraj mal jhuke-jhuke', 'Kaanch hi baans ke bahangiya'.
- Day 4 — Usha Arghya and Paran (Saptami): at dawn (in Brahma Muhurat) to the ghat with the same soop-daura; arghya to the rising sun at sunrise (time above); the vrati comes out of the water, touches the feet of elders and distributes prasad (thekua).
- Paran: on returning from the ghat the vrati bows to Chhathi Maiya and breaks the 36-hour fast with ginger-jaggery/thekua and water; then a light meal. Distributing the soop prasad among neighbours and relatives is essential — even asking for Chhath prasad is considered auspicious.
- The vow of the vrat is usually taken for a wish or by family tradition and then kept every year; if a year is missed, the puja is completed by having another parvaitin lift the soop.
Puja samagri checklist
The Chhath list is long — gather everything before Nahay-Khay using this list; everything must be clean and new.
- Bamboo soop (2-3), bamboo daura/basket (1-2), brass soop (if available)
- For thekua: wheat flour, jaggery, ghee, fennel, coconut shavings; for kasar: rice flour and jaggery
- Kharna: arwa rice, jaggery, milk, wheat flour (roti), mango wood, earthen stove
- Nahay-Khay: pumpkin/bottle gourd, chana dal, arwa rice, rock salt, ghee
- Fruit: bananas (a whole bunch), tender coconut, apple, orange, pear, water chestnut, suthni, lime-dabh, sugarcane (5-7 with leaves)
- Turmeric and ginger rhizomes (with the plant), radish, drumstick (in places), paan-supari
- Earthen lamps, ghee/mustard oil, incense, agarbatti, camphor
- Sindoor (the vrati wears a long sindoor from the nose to the parting), roli, akshat, flowers, garland
- Brass/copper lota (for the arghya), milk, Gangajal
- New clothes — an unstitched saree (yellow/red) for the vrati, dhoti for the men
- Kosi (if there is a vow): clay elephant lamp, 12/24 lamps, sugarcane canopy
- Wheat/rice washed, dried and ground at home (not market flour — purity), mat/blanket (to sleep on the floor)
The Chhath kitchen — Nahay-Khay, the Kharna rasiyav, thekua
Every Chhath prasad is made by hand, on an earthen/new stove, with purity — the wheat is washed, dried and ground at home, jaggery is the only sweetener. Thekua is the signature of the festival — wheat flour, melted jaggery, ghee, fennel and coconut kneaded, pressed in a mould and fried in ghee.
- Nahay-Khay: kaddu-bhaat — bottle gourd sabzi (rock salt, ghee), chana dal, arwa rice; the vrati eats once, the family later
- Kharna: rasiyav (jaggery-rice-milk kheer), ghee-smeared roti, banana — after sunset, on a mango-wood fire; the vrati eats in solitude
- Thekua (for 20): 1 kg wheat flour, 500-600 g jaggery (dissolved in water), 100 g ghee (moyan), 1 tsp fennel, coconut shavings — knead stiff, press in the mould, fry golden in ghee on a low flame
- Kasar/laddoo: roasted rice flour with jaggery, ghee and fennel rolled into laddoos; some homes make pirukiya (gujiya)
- Paran: break the fast with ginger-jaggery or thekua and water, then something light — khichdi/dal-rice; no heavy food at once
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Arghya exactly at sunset/sunrise — Delhi times above; match your own city with the panchang
- Strict purity for four days — new stove, hand-made prasad, no garlic-onion-meat, sleeping on the floor
- Sugarcane, a bunch of bananas, turmeric-ginger rhizomes, coconut and thekua are essential in the soop
- Keep the vrati steady in the water with support — ghats are slippery
- Distribute prasad with an open hand; asking for it is auspicious too
❌ Don't
- No unwashed/impure hand on the prasad; do not place the soop directly on the ground (mat/cloth)
- No loud voices before the vrati, no noise at the time of the Kharna prasad — the prasad stops
- Do not go into deep water at the ghat; never leave children alone; no fireworks at the ghat
- Market-ground flour, packaged sweets — against Chhath tradition
- A sick or pregnant vrati should not insist on 36 hours without water — another woman or man of the family can take up the vrat (men keep Chhath too)
Vrat katha
King Priyavrat and Queen Malini were childless. Through the yajna of Maharishi Kashyap the queen bore a son, but he was stillborn. As the grieving king went to give up his life, a goddess appeared from the sky — 'I am Sh… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Chhath Puja in {Y}?
The table of all four days is above — Nahay-Khay (Chaturthi), Kharna (Panchami), Sandhya Arghya (Shashthi) and Usha Arghya-Paran (Saptami); the Shashthi from panchang calculations, the other three relative to it.
What are the Chhath arghya timings?
The evening arghya at sunset on Shashthi and the dawn arghya at sunrise on Saptami — the Delhi times are above. In Patna sunrise and sunset are about 35-40 minutes earlier than Delhi, in Lucknow 15-20 minutes earlier, in Mumbai 25-30 minutes later — see your city's time on the panchang page.
Who is Chhathi Maiya?
Shashthi Devi — regarded as the mind-born daughter of Brahma and sister of Surya Dev; the goddess who protects children. Chhath worships both Surya and Chhathi Maiya.
Can men keep the Chhath vrat?
Yes — both women and men are vratis in Chhath; many men in Bihar are parvaits. The rule of vow and purity is the same for all.
Why arghya to the setting sun?
Chhath is one of the few festivals where the setting sun is also worshipped — it teaches gratitude even in decline; the evening arghya is held to be for Pratyusha and the morning arghya for Usha, the consorts of the sun.
How is thekua made?
Wheat flour, melted jaggery, a ghee moyan, fennel and coconut kneaded stiff, pressed in a wooden mould and fried golden in ghee on a low flame — quantities are in the bhog section above. Not market flour but flour washed, dried and ground at home.
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