The Sun, and the Standing in the Water

Chhath Puja is a festival of Bihar, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and the neighbouring Terai of Nepal, devoted to the Sun god Surya and to Chhathi Maiya, and it is among the most physically demanding of Hindu observances. Kept over four days in the bright fortnight of Kartika (October-November), it centres on strict rites of purity and a fast that for the principal devotee (the vrati, often a woman) extends to a waterless fast of some thirty-six hours. Its most striking act is the offering made while standing in a river, pond or tank, waist-deep in the water, at sunset and again at sunrise, when the devotees raise offerings of fruit and the wheat sweet thekua to the sun.

The festival is notable for having no priest and no idol: the worshippers address the sun directly, making it one of the most participatory and least mediated of Hindu observances. It gives thanks to the sun as the source of life and health and prays for the wellbeing and prosperity of the family. Deeply rooted in the folk religion of the region rather than in the classical temple tradition, Chhath has spread with Bihari migration across India and the diaspora, and its riverbank gatherings at dawn are among the most distinctive religious sights of the eastern Gangetic plain.