Chhath Puja 2026: Arghya to the Sun

Chhath 2026 runs across 13 to 16 November. Nahay Khay is the 13th, Kharna the 14th, Sandhya Arghya on Sunday the 15th, Usha Arghya at sunrise on the 16th. The clock is the Sun on the horizon where you stand, not a muhurat graphic made for Delhi if you are standing in a ghat outside Patna or in a park in Jersey City.

This is Surya’s festival in the strictest sense. You face the setting sun, then the rising sun, after a fast that experienced families treat as non-negotiable in its discipline. Beginners should not invent a softer version from a blog. Learn it from someone who has stood in the water. Jyotish’s contribution is modest and useful: Surya is the graha of the eye, the father, and the vital heat, and Chhath is a direct honour to that graha, not a general “lucky Sunday.”

The sky around the arghya

By 15 November, Shukra and Budha have turned direct. The double retrograde that covered Diwali is over. Chhath is the first major Surya rite of the season in a sky that can hold a new commitment again. That does not make the 15th a day to register a company. It makes it a day to stand where you said you would stand, for the length of the sunset.

Surya’s Graha Shanti, in Parashara, is jaggery and rice, a cow as the full dakshina, and a long japa inside a rite. Chhath is already the household form of Surya’s honour for the communities that keep it. Do not add a gemstone on top. If a father’s health is the reason you are standing there, the chart still matters afterwards: a free Kundli and, if the question is the period and not the sunset, talk to a Vedic astrologer.

Questions people keep asking

What is the main Chhath date in 2026?

Sandhya Arghya is Sunday 15 November. Usha Arghya is Monday 16 November at local sunrise. The fast starts earlier, with Nahay Khay on the 13th.

Is Chhath the same as Diwali?

No. Diwali was 8 November. Chhath is a separate Surya vrata, strongest in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and the diaspora that carries it.