*Chhath Puja* is the four-day festival kept primarily by households of Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and the Mithila region of Nepal. It is among the most demanding vratas in the Hindu calendar — a 36-hour waterless fast at its peak — and is offered to *Surya* (the Sun) and *Chhathi Maiya* (a folk goddess identified with Surya's sister or *Usha*, the dawn).
✦ The Four Days
Chhath falls on Kartik Shukla Shashthi (the sixth day of the bright fortnight of Kartik), six days after Diwali. The four days are tightly structured:
Day 1 — Nahay-Khay The vrati (the fast-keeper) bathes in a river or sacred water-body. A single satvik meal is taken — usually *kaddu-bhaat* (pumpkin and rice in pure mustard oil), prepared with the most rigorous purity. From this meal until the close of the festival, no salted food, no leftover food, and no food prepared by anyone outside the household will pass the vrati's lips.
Day 2 — Kharna or Lohanda The vrati keeps a full-day fast. In the evening, after sunset, a single meal is prepared: *kheer* of rice, milk and jaggery, with a small piece of *roti*. This is eaten in absolute silence, in a sealed-off room. The moment this meal is over, the 36-hour waterless fast begins.
Day 3 — Sandhya Arghya (Evening Offering) The vrati and family travel to the riverbank, ghat or pond in the afternoon with elaborately prepared offerings: thekua (a wheat-and-jaggery sweet), seasonal fruits — particularly sugarcane stalks, water-chestnut (*singhara*), turmeric root with leaves attached, sweet potato — arranged in *daura* (large bamboo baskets). At sunset, the vrati stands waist-deep in the river facing west and offers *arghya* (water poured from a brass pot) to the *setting sun*.
Day 4 — Usha Arghya (Morning Offering) The community returns to the riverbank before dawn. The vrati again stands in the water, this time facing east, and offers arghya to the *rising sun*. The fast is then broken with the offered prasad. The festival closes.
✦ What Makes Chhath Distinctive
The setting-sun offering. Almost every other Hindu solar ritual honours the rising sun. Chhath is the major exception — it offers worship first to the setting sun, before the rising. The folk theology: gratitude to what has been goes before the welcome of what comes.
No priest. Chhath is conducted entirely by the family and the women of the household. There is no temple worship, no priest mediating. The vrati and her family make the offerings directly.
No idols. The Sun himself is the deity. There is no image worshipped on the riverbank — the Sun is faced directly.
The fast is exceptionally rigorous. Most Hindu vratas allow at least water and fruits. Chhath's central fast is *nirjala* (waterless) for 36 hours, often in October-November humidity. Many vratis stand in cold river water for the arghyas. The discipline is undertaken with full intent and is widely held to require both physical preparation and mental clarity.
It is gender-led but not gender-restricted. Most vratis are women, often acting on behalf of their family's wellbeing — particularly the welfare of children. Men also keep the vrat in significant numbers. The festival is a household enterprise; everyone in the family contributes to preparation, cooking and the procession.
✦ On Approaching Chhath
Chhath is not a festival to take on lightly or as a first vrat. Households new to it traditionally have a more experienced relative guide them through the first year. Doctors should be consulted by anyone with diabetes, heart conditions, pregnancy or eating disorders before undertaking the 36-hour waterless fast.
✦ A Note on the Spirit
Among Hindu festivals, Chhath is unique for its absolute solar focus, its egalitarian structure (no priests, no caste distinctions at the ghat), its uncompromising discipline, and its capacity to bind entire towns together at the ghats during the offerings. The image of millions standing in rivers at sunset and sunrise — a phenomenon visible across Bihar's ghats — is one of the most striking sights in the Hindu festival calendar.