The story behind Chhath Puja
Chhath falls in the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of Kartika month, with the main day on Shashthi (the 6th tithi). The four days are: Day 1 (Chaturthi) — Nahay Khay: ritual bathing and a single sat…
Chhath falls in the bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) of Kartika month, with the main day on Shashthi (the 6th tithi). The four days are: Day 1 (Chaturthi) — Nahay Khay: ritual bathing and a single sattvik meal; Day 2 (Panchami) — Lohanda or Kharna: a full-day fast broken only at sunset with kheer and roti; Day 3 (Shashthi) — Sandhya Arghya: the most sacred day, when devotees stand waist-deep in a river, pond, or specially constructed water body at sunset and offer arghya (water, milk, and prasad of thekua, fruits, and sugarcane) to the setting sun; Day 4 (Saptami) — Usha Arghya: arghya offered to the rising sun the next morning, after which the 36-hour nirjala fast (without food or water) is finally broken.
Chhath has no priests, no idols, and no temples. It is a direct, intimate worship — observed standing in flowing water, facing the sun, with offerings of grain and fruit grown in one's own home or village. The rigour is legendary: the 36-hour waterless fast, the public communal bathing, the journey on foot to the riverbank carrying daura (bamboo baskets) of prasad on the head — all elements of a vrat where the body itself becomes the offering.