Countdown to Sandhya Arghya
Counting down to sunset on Sunday 15 Nov 2026 (Patna, 5:01 PM IST).
What is Chhath?
Chhath is a four-day festival of thanks to Surya Dev, the Sun, and to Chhathi Maiya, who is prayed to for the health and long life of children and family. It falls on Kartik Shukla Shashthi, six days after Diwali.
It is the great festival of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Nepal's Madhesh, and today it lights up riverbanks, ponds and even rooftop tanks from Delhi and Mumbai to Mauritius, Dubai and New Jersey.
Chhath is rare in honouring the setting sun as well as the rising one. There is no priest and no idol: the vratin (the person keeping the fast) stands in water and offers arghya directly to the Sun.
The four days in 2026
Day 1 · Friday
Nahay Khay A holy bath and a spotless home. The vratin eats one pure meal, traditionally kaddu-bhaat: bottle gourd, chana dal and rice cooked with ghee and rock salt.
Day 2 · Saturday
Kharna A day-long fast, broken at dusk with rasiya (jaggery kheer) and roti cooked on a clay chulha with mango wood. After this prasad, the 36-hour nirjala fast begins, with not even water.
Day 3 · Sunday
Sandhya Arghya Thekua is fried at home, the daura is packed with fruit, and the family walks to the ghat singing. At sunset the vratin stands in the water and offers arghya to the setting sun. At night comes kosi bharai: diyas lit beneath a canopy of sugarcane.
Day 4 · Monday
Usha Arghya & Paran Back at the ghat before first light. Arghya is offered to the rising sun, prasad is shared with everyone, and the vratin breaks the fast (paran).
Arghya timings
City Sandhya · 15 Nov Usha · 16 Nov
Patna 5:01 PM 6:07 AM Delhi 5:28 PM 6:44 AM Mumbai 6:00 PM 6:46 AM
Approximate local sunset and sunrise. Shashthi tithi runs from 11:24 PM on 14 Nov to 2:01 AM on 16 Nov. Check your local panchang, and reach the ghat 30 to 45 minutes early.
What goes in the soop
Thekua: wheat flour, jaggery and ghee, pressed with a wooden mould and fried
Kasar or ladua: rice-flour and jaggery laddoos
Whole sugarcane, a bunch of bananas and a coconut
Big gagal nimbu (citron), sweet lime and singhara (water chestnut)
Fresh ginger and turmeric plants, radish and seasonal produce
A diya, sindoor and a lota of water or milk for the arghya
Far from home this Chhath?
Find a local ghat: many cities set up Chhath ponds in parks and on lakes. Ask the Bihari or Purvanchali samaj near you.
Video-call family during both arghyas. Seeing the ghat live is the next best thing.
Make thekua at home: atta, gur, ghee, a pinch of saunf, and fry slowly on low flame.
Play the geet. Our songs panel has Sharda Sinha ji's classics.
Ghat etiquette
Give vratins space at the water's edge; they have not had water for a day and a half.
Keep the river clean. Carry back plastic and leave only flowers and diyas.
Never step over a soop, daura or prasad.
Watch children near the water and stay inside the barricades.
Accept prasad with both hands, and offer it to whoever is near you.
An original fan-made experience. Dates follow the Kartik Shukla Shashthi panchang for 2026. Songs belong to their respective labels and are streamed from YouTube.