Chhath is the festival of the Sun on the sixth day of Kartika's bright half: those who keep it fast, stand in water and offer arghya to the setting sun and then the rising one, mostly in Bihar and the east of Uttar Pradesh.

Chhath honours Surya, the Sun, as the giver of life and health. No single katha belongs to it; the Mahabharata gives one of the stories behind worshipping the Sun from the water.

When the Pandavas went into exile in the forest, many brahmins followed them, and Yudhishthira had no food to give them. On his priest Dhaumya's advice he stood in water and praised Surya with a hymn of his many names. The hymn says that whoever worships the Sun on the sixth or the seventh lunar day wins Lakshmi's grace.

Surya appeared and gave Yudhishthira a copper vessel. Whatever was cooked in it would never run out until Draupadi had eaten, so for the twelve years of exile no guest left the Pandavas hungry.

Sources: The Mahabharata, Vana Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (P. C. Roy, 1884), § III; G. A. Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life (1885), § 1442

Chhath puja vidhi and samagri

Chhath is kept over four days. Those who keep it bathe and eat one pure meal on the first day, fast on the second until an evening meal of kheer, and on the third evening stand in a river or pond to offer arghya of milk and water to the setting Sun, with thekua, fruit and sugarcane carried in bamboo baskets. Before dawn on the fourth day the arghya is offered to the rising Sun, and the fast is broken with the prasad. The Mahabharata's hymn to Surya promises Lakshmi's grace to those who worship the Sun on the sixth or the seventh lunar day.

New Delhi · IST

Sandhya arghya

17:29

Tithika’s convention

Usha arghya

06:41

Monday 12 November · Tithika’s convention

Sources: Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism), Chhath Puja, the four days; G. A. Grierson, Bihar Peasant Life (1885), § 1442; The Mahabharata, Vana Parva, tr. K. M. Ganguli (P. C. Roy, 1884), § III

Chhath fasting rules

The long fast of Chhath is kept from the evening of kharna, after the kheer, until the arghya to the rising Sun on the fourth morning, and most who keep it take no water in that time. Those who cannot keep the whole fast share in the arghyas and the prasad, and each family decides who keeps it.

New Delhi · IST

Usha arghya

06:41

Monday 12 November · Tithika’s convention

Sources: Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism), Chhath Puja, the four days

Why is Chhath on Sun 11 Nov?

In New Delhi

Chhath · Sandhya Arghya is on Sun 11 Nov: Shashthi holds sunset that evening.

Sunset at 17:30 is Panchami; Shashthi begins at 19:14. Shashthi: 19:14 to 18:11 Sun.

Shashthi at sunset, 17:29. Shashthi: 19:14 Sat to 18:11.

One row per day, on one clock (IST). Band: the tithi. Line: Sunset. Light strip: day; dark strip: night.

The evening arghya is offered at sunset. Shashthi runs from 19:14 on Sat 10 Nov to 18:11 on Sun 11 Nov, so it holds sunset only on Sun 11 Nov, at 17:29. No text giving Chhath · Sandhya Arghya’s time was found; sunset is Tithika’s convention.

The rule

Kartika Shukla Shashthi

The evening arghya is offered at sunset.

Smarta: the evening whose sunset Shashthi holds: Tithika’s convention, since no text gives the time.
Vaishnava: the Smarta day.

Why the cities differ

New Delhi keeps Sun 11 Nov. Dubai keeps Sat 10 Nov.

Time runs down, the same instant across both columns · each city on its own clock · dashed: tithi changes · filled: what each reading keeps

New Delhi · IST

Chhath · Sandhya Arghya is on Sun 11 Nov: Shashthi holds sunset that evening.

Sat 10 Nov. Sunset at 17:30 is Panchami; Shashthi begins at 19:14. Shashthi: 19:14 to 18:11 Sun.

Sun 11 Nov. Shashthi at sunset, 17:29. Shashthi: 19:14 Sat to 18:11.

Dubai · UTC+4

Chhath · Sandhya Arghya is on Sat 10 Nov: Shashthi touches sunset on neither evening, and the earlier day is taken.

Sat 10 Nov. Sunset at 17:33 is Panchami; Shashthi begins at 17:44. Shashthi: 17:44 to 16:41 Sun.

Sun 11 Nov. Shashthi ended at 16:41; sunset at 17:32 is Saptami. Shashthi: 17:44 Sat to 16:41.

Every city’s own page draws its reason.