Festival · Offerings to the Sun at dusk and dawn
Chhath Puja 2026: date, tithi and muhurat
Chhath Puja 2026 falls on Sunday, 15 November, on Shukla Shashthi of Kartika. The times here are for Chandigarh; choose your city to see yours.
What Chhath Puja is
Chhath is the four-day festival of the Sun, kept most strongly in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai of Nepal, and wherever people from those regions have settled. On Kartika Shukla Shashthi devotees stand waist-deep in a river or pond at sunset and offer arghya, water with milk, fruit and thekua, to the setting Sun, and offer it again to the rising Sun the next morning. Surya and Chhathi Maiya are worshipped, and the fast is kept without food or water for about thirty-six hours.
How the date is fixed
The main day is Kartika Shukla Shashthi, the sixth tithi after the new moon of Kartika. The day is the one whose sunrise falls in Shashthi; Sandhya Arghya, the evening offering, is made at that day’s sunset and Usha Arghya, the morning offering, at the next sunrise. The ritual opens two days earlier with Nahay Khay, the bath and first simple meal, and the day before with Kharna.
Dates for 2026 to 2028
Chhath Puja is on Sunday, 15 November in 2026, Thursday, 4 November in 2027 and Monday, 23 October in 2028. These dates are calculated from the sky for Chandigarh, not copied from a printed calendar. It falls on Shukla Shashthi of Kartika.
| Year | Date | Tithi and month |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday, 15 November | Shukla Shashthi · Kartika |
| 2027 | Thursday, 4 November | Shukla Shashthi · Kartika |
| 2028 | Monday, 23 October | Shukla Shashthi · Kartika |
Muhurat for Chhath Puja
For Chandigarh in 2026, the main time is the Sandhya Arghya (sunset): 5:25 pm on Sunday, 15 November. Sunrise, sunset and the parts of the day move with the city, so the window, and sometimes the day itself, can change elsewhere. Choose your city below and the tables follow.
| Muhurat | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sandhya Arghya (sunset) | 5:25 pm | 5:32 pm | 5:42 pm |
| Usha Arghya (next sunrise) | 6:49 am (16 Nov) | 6:40 am (5 Nov) | 6:31 am (24 Oct) |
Families prepare thekua and baskets of fruit in clean kitchens, keep strict cleanliness, and sing Chhath songs on the way to the ghat. The offering is made with the Sun as witness: people face the Sun, hold the soop, a bamboo tray, and pour water in a thin stream. After Usha Arghya the fast is broken with prasad.
Chhath needs no priest or temple; the river, the Sun and the family are enough.
A share card for the Chhath Puja muhurat is coming. Today the app has one for Diwali only.
Questions people ask
What are Sandhya Arghya and Usha Arghya?
Sandhya Arghya is the offering to the setting Sun on the evening of Shashthi; Usha Arghya is the offering to the rising Sun the next morning. The table gives the sunset and sunrise for your city, because the time depends on the place.
Why is the Sun worshipped on the sixth tithi?
In the tradition the sixth tithi is linked with Chhathi Maiya, the protective mother-goddess of children, who is worshipped together with Surya. That is why the festival falls on the sixth tithi after the new moon.
Why is the fast so strict?
It is a vow of cleanliness and austerity, kept in the open air with simple food, which is why families prepare for it for days. It is a personal vow, and each person keeps it as far as they safely can.
When is Chhath Puja in 2026, 2027 and 2028?
Chhath Puja is on Sunday, 15 November 2026; Thursday, 4 November 2027; Monday, 23 October 2028, calculated for Chandigarh. In another city the day can differ by one when the tithi starts or ends close to the time of day the rule uses.
How does JYOTISH.info calculate Chhath Puja?
From the sky, with the astronomy-engine library on the Lahiri sidereal zodiac: the lunar month from the Sun’s sign at the new moon, the tithi from the Moon–Sun angle, and the day part that the festival’s own rule asks for, at the city’s sunrise and sunset. Nothing is copied from a table. The rule is stated above and the full method is on the method page.
Every position on this page is calculated sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa from the astronomy-engine library (MIT licence). The classical texts describe tendencies; this page is for guidance and reflection, not a verdict, and no outcome is promised. How we calculate. This is the English page and the legal reference. The same page is available in Hindi. Checked October 2026.