Chhath arghya: the four days and the steps at the ghat छठ का अर्घ्य: चार दिन और घाट पर अर्घ्य के चरण

The article

Chhath this year runs from Friday 13 November to Monday 16 November. The evening arghya, the one most people picture, is on Sunday 15 November.

A word first about where Chhath comes from. It is a folk tradition, kept most of all in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai of Nepal, and now wherever families from there live. Its steps are not laid down in one scripture. They are passed on by mothers and grandmothers and in the Chhath songs, and they vary a little from village to village. What follows is the common shape. Where your family does it differently, follow your family. The worship of the Sun itself is very old: the Rigveda has hymns to Surya, such as 1.50. Chhathi Maiya, the mother goddess of the festival, is worshipped alongside him.

## The four days

1. **Friday 13 November, Nahay Khay.** The vrati, the person keeping the vrat, bathes, often in a river or pond, and eats one simple meal: rice, chana dal and lauki (bottle gourd), cooked without onion or garlic. 2. **Saturday 14 November, Kharna.** The vrati fasts through the day. In the evening they make kheer with jaggery and rotis, offer them, and eat that one meal. The family takes the prasad after them. From here the nirjala fast begins, without food or water. 3. **Sunday 15 November, Sandhya Arghya.** In the afternoon the family carries the daura, the bamboo basket, to the ghat. Arghya is offered to the setting Sun. 4. **Monday 16 November, Usha Arghya.** Before dawn everyone returns to the ghat. Arghya is offered to the rising Sun, and the vrati breaks the fast.

Sunset and sunrise times differ by city. Please check yours.

## What goes in the soop

The soop is a winnowing tray of bamboo. Families usually place in it:

- Thekua, the hard sweet of wheat flour and jaggery, made at home - Fresh fruit of the season: banana, sugarcane, coconut, a big citrus (often called nimbu or gagal), water chestnut, sweet potato - Rice laddoo, a lamp, a little sindoor, and turmeric and ginger plants with their roots, where the family keeps them

## The steps of the arghya

1. The vrati bathes and stands in the water, usually knee-deep or waist-deep, facing the Sun. 2. Family members hold the soop or pass it to the vrati. Many families keep one soop for each child or each wish. 3. Water or raw milk is poured slowly from a lota over the soop, toward the Sun. Others in the family pour too, standing near the vrati. 4. The vrati turns or bows to the Sun with folded hands. The women sing Chhath songs on the bank. 5. In the morning the same is done facing the rising Sun. Afterwards the vrati shares the prasad and breaks the fast, often first with water and a little ginger and jaggery, as the family does it.

## Care, please

The Chhath fast is long and strict, and nirjala for about a day and a half. Anyone who is elderly, unwell, pregnant, diabetic or on regular medicine should speak to their doctor first, and keep taking prescribed medicine. Many families have one member keep the full fast while others help. At the water, stay where you can stand, keep children close, and in a city use a clean tank or a ghat that local authorities have prepared.

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