Chhath Puja 2026: Arghya Times & Vrat

Chhath Puja is the one festival in the Hindu year that bows to the sun as it sets, not only as it rises. Across four days in 2026 — Friday 13 to Monday 16 November — devotees of Surya and Chhathi Maiya keep a vrat with no idol and no priest: the vratti wades into a river or pond and offers arghya to the sun with their own hands. The first great offering, on the evening of Sunday 15 November, goes to the setting sun; the second, at dawn on Monday 16 November, greets it rising. No other major festival honours the sun on its way down.

Because arghya is offered at the exact moment the sun meets the horizon, its time is your city’s own sunset and sunrise — never one national clock. In Patna the setting-sun arghya falls near 5:00 PM and the rising-sun arghya near 6:07 AM; in Mumbai the same offerings come at 5:59 PM and 6:46 AM. Between the two, the vratti keeps a nirjala vrat of about 36 hours — no food and not a sip of water — begun after the Kharna prasad on Saturday night and broken only once the sun has been greeted at dawn.

Chhath Puja 2026 at a glance

🌅

Festival days

Fri 13 – Mon 16 Nov 2026

📿

Tithi

Kartik Shukla Chaturthi–Saptami

☀️

Worshipped

Surya & Chhathi Maiya

🌇

Sandhya Arghya

Sun 15 Nov — setting sun

🌄

Usha Arghya

Mon 16 Nov — rising sun

⏳

Nirjala vrat

~36 hours, no water

Sandhya and Usha arghya, by city

The offering times are your city’s sunset and sunrise

Patna

Sandhya 5:00 PM · Usha 6:07 AM

Sandhya 15 Nov · Usha 16 Nov

New Delhi

Sandhya 5:27 PM · Usha 6:44 AM

Sandhya 15 Nov · Usha 16 Nov

Mumbai

Sandhya 5:59 PM · Usha 6:46 AM

Sandhya 15 Nov · Usha 16 Nov

Kolkata

Sandhya 4:52 PM · Usha 5:49 AM

Sandhya 15 Nov · Usha 16 Nov

The Sandhya Arghya is offered to the setting sun on the evening of Sunday 15 November, and the Usha Arghya to the rising sun at dawn on Monday 16 November. Because each is tied to the horizon, the clock changes from city to city: Kolkata, further east, sees the sun set and rise earlier than Delhi or Mumbai, while Mumbai’s evening arghya comes almost an hour after Patna’s. The four cities above are the anchor times; for many more cities and the full evening-and-morning table, see the per-city arghya time page.

💡

More cities’ arghya times

The four anchor cities are above. For many more cities and the full Sandhya-and-Usha arghya table, see the per-city arghya time page.Per-city arghya time →

The four days of Chhath

Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, Usha Arghya

Chhath runs across four days of the waxing Kartik moon. It opens with Nahay Khay on Friday 13 November: the vratti bathes and eats a single sattvic meal, the classic kaddu-bhaat — pumpkin with rice and chana dal. On Saturday 14 November comes Kharna, also called Lohanda — a day of fasting that ends at dusk with a prasad of kheer and roti; the moment that prasad is eaten, the waterless fast begins. Sunday 15 November is the Sandhya Arghya: as the day closes the family walks to the ghat, and the vratti, standing waist-deep in the water, raises a soop of offerings to the setting sun. At dawn on Monday 16 November the Usha Arghya greets the rising sun, and only then is the fast broken with parana. Between Kharna and this last arghya the vratti keeps a nirjala vrat of roughly 36 hours, taking neither food nor water. The offerings are carried in a bamboo soop and daura and centre on thekua — a stiff wheat-and-jaggery sweet — with whole stalks of sugarcane, coconut, banana, seasonal fruit and sindoor.

Surya, Chhathi Maiya and why the setting sun

The Karna and Draupadi katha, and where Chhath is kept

Chhath is worship of Surya, the sun who sustains all life, and of Chhathi Maiya, the goddess of children and wellbeing invoked as his sister. The setting sun is honoured first because gratitude, in this tradition, is owed to the light that has already given the whole day before anything is asked of the light to come — a rare turn that makes Chhath the only major festival to salute the sun as it goes down. The vrat is old: its katha ties it to Karna, the son of Surya, who is said to have stood in water offering arghya to his father, and to Draupadi, who is said to have kept the fast for the wellbeing of the Pandavas. Chhath is observed most intensely in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal Terai, where the great rivers — above all the Ganga — fill with lamps and soop on these evenings; wherever people from that land have settled, the diaspora keeps the same vrat by whatever water they can reach.

Live Panchang

See today’s panchang and sunrise for your city

The arghya times above are for four anchor cities. For your own city’s exact sunrise, sunset and tithi on Chhath — or any day — open the live panchang.

Today’s Panchang Today’s Choghadiya

Chhath Puja 2026 — your questions

Dates, arghya times, the nirjala vrat and samagri

When is Chhath Puja in 2026?+

Chhath Puja 2026 is a four-day festival from Friday 13 to Monday 16 November, kept over Kartik Shukla Chaturthi to Saptami. The days are Nahay Khay on the 13th, Kharna on the 14th, the Sandhya Arghya to the setting sun on Sunday the 15th, and the Usha Arghya to the rising sun on Monday the 16th, after which the fast is broken.

What are the Sandhya and Usha arghya timings for Chhath 2026?+

The Sandhya Arghya is offered at your city’s sunset on 15 November and the Usha Arghya at sunrise on 16 November, so the time changes from place to place. In Patna the arghyas fall near 5:00 PM and 6:07 AM, in New Delhi near 5:27 PM and 6:44 AM, in Mumbai near 5:59 PM and 6:46 AM, and in Kolkata near 4:52 PM and 5:49 AM. For many more cities, see the per-city arghya time page.

Why is the setting sun worshipped on Chhath?+

Chhath is the only major Hindu festival that honours the setting sun and not only the rising one. The setting sun is offered arghya first, on the evening of 15 November, as thanks for the light already given; the rising sun is then greeted at dawn. This double offering — dusk and dawn — is what sets Chhath apart, and it is done with no idol and no priest, the vratti standing in water and raising the soop directly to Surya.

How long is the Chhath nirjala vrat?+

The Chhath vrat is a nirjala fast of about 36 hours, kept without food or even water. It begins on the night of Kharna, 14 November, once the kheer-roti prasad has been eaten, and runs through the Sandhya Arghya on the 15th until the Usha Arghya at dawn on the 16th, when it is broken with parana. It is one of the most demanding vrats in the Hindu calendar.

What samagri is needed for Chhath Puja?+

The core samagri is a bamboo soop (winnowing tray) and a daura (basket) to carry the offerings, and thekua, the stiff wheat-and-jaggery sweet that is Chhath’s signature prasad. With them go whole stalks of sugarcane, a coconut, bananas, seasonal fruit and sindoor. The offerings are raised on the soop to the sun at both the evening and the morning arghya.

Who is Chhathi Maiya, and how is Chhath linked to Karna and Draupadi?+

Chhath worships Surya, the sun, together with Chhathi Maiya, the goddess of children and wellbeing invoked as his sister. The vrat’s katha links it to Karna, the son of Surya, who is said to have offered arghya standing in water, and to Draupadi, who is said to have kept the fast for the Pandavas’ welfare. It is observed most strongly in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal Terai, and by the diaspora.

Per-city arghya time →

Source & Disclaimer: Sunrise and sunset times are given for the cities named, in IST, and the Sandhya and Usha arghya are offered at your own city’s sunset and sunrise, so confirm your local timing on the panchang before you leave for the ghat. The ~36-hour nirjala vrat is demanding; anyone who is pregnant, unwell, elderly or diabetic should follow a doctor’s advice rather than a strict fast.