Chhath Puja 2026: The Four Dates and Arghya Times by City

Chhath Puja 2026 runs over four days, from Friday 13 November to Monday 16 November. The evening offering to the setting sun, Sandhya Arghya, is on Sunday 15 November, and the dawn offering, Usha Arghya, is on Monday the 16th. In Patna the sun sets at 5:01 PM on Sunday and rises at 6:07 AM on Monday.

Every arghya is timed to the sun itself, so the clock time is different in every city. Kolkata's sunset on Sunday is 4:53 PM. Mumbai's is 6:00 PM. Families who will stand at a ghat in a different city from their relatives at home should check their own city's times, below.

The four days

Day one, Friday 13 November, is Nahay Khay. The person keeping the fast bathes, the house is cleaned, and a simple sattvic meal is eaten.

Day two, Saturday 14 November, is Kharna, also called Lohanda. The devotee goes without water through the day and in the evening eats kheer made with jaggery and roti.

Day three, Sunday 15 November, is the main day. The prasad is prepared and carried to a river, a pond or a tank, and the arghya is offered to the setting sun.

Day four, Monday 16 November, begins before dawn. The arghya is offered to the rising sun, and the fast is broken with the Paran.

Sunset and sunrise by city

Patna: sunset 5:01 PM on Sunday 15 November, sunrise 6:07 AM on Monday 16 November.

Kolkata: sunset 4:53 PM on Sunday, sunrise 5:50 AM on Monday.

Delhi: sunset 5:28 PM on Sunday, sunrise 6:44 AM on Monday.

Mumbai: sunset 6:00 PM on Sunday, sunrise 6:46 AM on Monday.

Kolkata and Mumbai share a clock, and their Sunday sunsets are 67 minutes apart. A family in Mumbai working from a Patna time would reach the water about an hour before their own sunset, on the third day of a fast.

The Shashthi tithi, the sixth day of the bright half of Kartik, runs from 11:23 PM on Saturday 14 November to 2:00 AM on Monday 16 November, Indian time.

Who is worshipped

Chhath is offered to Surya, the sun, in thanks for life on earth, and to Chhathi Maiya, believed to be his sister, who is prayed to for the long life and health of children.

The person keeping the fast, called the parvaitin, is usually a woman, but men keep it too. Some devotees prostrate themselves along the road on the way to the riverbank.

What goes in the basket

The offerings are carried in small bamboo baskets. Thekua, a fried sweet of wheat and jaggery, is the best known. Rice laddoo and kasar go in alongside seasonal fruit, often sugarcane and bananas. Everything is vegetarian and cooked without onion or garlic.

Where it is kept

Chhath belongs to Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and southern Nepal, and it has travelled wherever families from those regions have gone. It is held twice a year. The November festival in Kartik is the large one. A smaller Chaiti Chhath falls in Chaitra, in spring.

The calendar around it

Chhath starts two days after Bhai Dooj, which closes the Diwali week on Wednesday 11 November. The next big date is Dev Uthani Ekadashi on Friday 20 November, which ends Chaturmas. Tulsi Vivah the next day opens the wedding season, and Dev Deepawali on Tuesday 24 November closes the month of Kartik.