Chhath Puja 2026 — the four days and both arghyas
Friday 13 to Monday 16 November 2026
Chhath Puja 2026 begins with Nahay Khay on Friday 13 November and ends with Usha Arghya on Monday 16 November. The nirjala fast runs from the evening of Kharna to the morning arghya — roughly thirty-six hours.
The two arghyas are the fixed points: Sandhya Arghya to the setting sun on Sunday 15 November, Usha Arghya to the rising sun on Monday 16 November.
The sequence
Both arghyas are timed to actual sunset and sunrise at the ghat you are standing on, not to a calculated muhurat.
In the Gangetic plain in mid-November, sunset falls near 5:10 pm and sunrise near 6:20 am.
Sunrise and sunset shift by more than half an hour across north India, and further still in the south and west. Take the times for your own location — and reach the ghat well before, because the crowd decides how long it takes to get to the water.
- Order at least ten days ahead. Chhath is the most demanding list in the calendar and the hardest to fix late.
- Sugarcane, seasonal fruit and flowers are yours to arrange; the soop, daura, thekua ingredients and arghya set are in the box.
- The kit carries a detachable ghat checklist — take that to the water rather than the whole box.
Festival dates follow the tithi and are computed for a location. Two panchangs for cities a few hundred kilometres apart can differ by a day. Confirm against a panchang for your own city before you fix anything around it.
About these dates
Nahay Khay on Friday 13 November, Kharna on Saturday 14 November, Sandhya Arghya on Sunday 15 November and Usha Arghya on Monday 16 November 2026.