Chhath Puja 2026 in Mumbai: Setting Up at Home and at the Water

According to most panchangs, Chhath Puja 2026 begins with Nahay Khay on Friday 13 November and ends with Usha Arghya at sunrise on Monday 16 November. One source we checked places the two arghya days a day later, so please confirm with your city's panchang or your family priest.

Sunrise and sunset times differ from city to city, and the arghyas are offered at those moments. Check the local timings for Mumbai rather than following times published for Patna or Delhi.

Each day builds towards the two offerings to the Sun. Practices vary between families and regions, so treat this as a general outline rather than a rulebook.

On Nahay Khay the व्रती (vrati, the person keeping the fast) bathes, the home is cleaned, and a simple, pure meal is cooked and eaten. On Kharna the vrati fasts through the day and breaks it in the evening with prasad, commonly kheer made with jaggery, and roti; the longer fast begins after this.

On the third evening the family goes to the water with bamboo baskets of fruit, thekua and other offerings, and the vrati offers अर्घ्य (arghya, an offering of water) to the setting Sun. Before dawn on the fourth day they return to offer arghya to the rising Sun, after which the fast is completed.

The fasting is demanding. Families often adapt it for those whose health requires it, and anyone with a medical condition, who is pregnant or who is elderly should follow their doctor's advice.

Chhath is offered to सूर्य (Surya, the Sun) and to छठी मैया (Chhathi Maiya), and its two great moments are sunset and sunrise. That gives it a natural link with Vastu, where the East belongs to Surya and Indra and is treated as the direction of light, health and new beginnings.

What makes Chhath unusual is that it honours the Sun in both directions: facing West as it sets on the third evening, and East as it rises on the fourth morning. The offering is made standing in water, the element Vastu gives to the North-East and to Varuna in the West. Few rituals bring light, water and direction together so plainly. Our article on Makar Sankranti looks at another festival of the Sun.

Set the altar in the East or North-East of the home, on a clean low chowki, with the vrati facing East while praying. The North-East is the traditional place for worship in any home, and our guide to the pooja room in small homes covers the options if that corner is taken.

Keep the soop and daura, the bamboo winnowing baskets that carry offerings to the water, at the altar once they are prepared. Clean the kitchen thoroughly before Nahay Khay, since the prasad is made with particular care; many families keep separate vessels for it. In Vastu the kitchen's fire belongs in the South-East, but for Chhath what matters most is that the space is clean.

Keep the altar area free of clutter, light a diya there each evening, and keep the flame clear of the dried leaves and cloth that often decorate the baskets.

Yes. Many families who cannot reach a beach or lake perform the arghyas at home, using a tub or small tank of clean water on a terrace or in the society compound, with permission from the society.

An East-facing balcony suits the dawn arghya and a West-facing terrace the evening one. If the building blocks the horizon, face the direction of the Sun anyway; the intention, not the view, carries the offering. In recent years some housing societies and local groups have arranged shared water tanks so that neighbours can gather together. If your flat faces East, you already have the morning light Chhath celebrates.

Families gather at the city's beaches, such as Juhu, at lakes and tanks across the suburbs, and at artificial ponds that civic bodies and local groups arrange in some areas. Mumbai's Chhath has grown with the families from Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh who have made the city home, and the evening arghya draws large, devout crowds.

Arrangements change from year to year, so check with your local group or civic ward office about which sites are set up for 2026, and arrive with time to spare.

Stay within the areas marked for the puja, do not wade deeper than you need to, and follow the instructions of police, lifeguards and volunteers. At the sea, tides change the water line quickly; check the tide timings for the day before you go.

If setting up the Chhath altar showed you that your home has no clean, light North-East or East corner for worship, that is worth addressing after the festival, for every puja of the year.

Dr. Kimaya Parikh-Ambekar offers Vastu consultations from the Andheri East office, on-site across Mumbai, or as a distant consultation from your floor plan. Remedies are non-structural and suit rented flats.