Chhath Puja Countdown

Chhath Puja is a four-day Hindu festival dedicated to Surya, the Sun god, and Chhathi Maiya, celebrated with fasting, holy bathing and offerings made to the rising and setting sun. It is observed with special devotion across Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh, in Nepal's Terai region, and by their diaspora worldwide.

History

Chhath Puja is regarded as one of the oldest surviving Vedic-era observances of the Indian subcontinent, rooted in the ancient worship of the Sun as the sustaining source of life, health and prosperity. Hymns praising Surya appear in the Rigveda, and the practice of offering water to the sun at dawn and dusk echoes rituals described in early Sanskrit texts. Unlike most Hindu festivals, Chhath is performed without idols, priests or temples, the devotee standing directly before the sun in flowing water — a simplicity that many believe points to its great antiquity. Traditional accounts weave the festival into the great epics. One popular story links it to the Mahabharata, telling how Draupadi and the Pandavas observed a sun vow to regain their lost fortunes, and how Karna, said to be the son of Surya, worshipped the sun standing waist-deep in water. Another narrative connects the rite to Rama and Sita, who are said to have offered thanks to the sun on returning to Ayodhya. The goddess Chhathi Maiya, honoured alongside Surya, is understood in folk tradition as a protector of children and a giver of well-being. For centuries the festival was concentrated in the Mithila and Magadha regions along the Ganges, where communities gathered on riverbanks to greet the dawn. Through the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, migration carried Chhath far beyond its heartland: it is now celebrated on the ghats of the Ganges and Yamuna in Delhi and Mumbai, across Nepal's Terai plains, and by Bihari and Nepali communities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mauritius and the Gulf. Governments in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh recognise the days as regional public holidays, and vast crowds still assemble each year at water's edge to honour the sun.

Meaning

Chhath Puja is, at heart, a festival of gratitude to the sun — the visible source of energy, warmth and the harvest — and of devotion to Chhathi Maiya, believed to safeguard the health and prosperity of the family. Its rituals are among the most physically demanding in Hinduism: devotees, most often women, keep a rigorous fast that can extend to thirty-six hours without food or water, bathe in cold rivers, and stand for long periods in the water offering arghya to the sun. What gives the festival its distinctive spirit is its emphasis on purity, discipline and cleanliness rather than display. There is no elaborate temple ceremony and no clergy; the bond is direct, between the worshipper and the sun. Uniquely, arghya is offered not only to the rising sun but also to the setting sun, a reminder that both the giving and the withdrawing of light deserve reverence. For its communities, Chhath is a time of thanksgiving for wishes granted, a renewal of health and family bonds, and a moment of shared devotion at the riverbank at dawn.