Chhath Puja 2022 Sandhya Arghya Date and Time: Chhath Puja, the four-day festival dedicated to Sun God is here. The festival falls on the Shukla Shashti of the Kartik month and is celebrated with much enthusiasm and fervour in the states of Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Chhath is observed twice in a year. While Chaiti Chhath or Chota Chhath is celebrated in summers in the months of March or April as per the Gregorian calendar, Kartiki Chhath falls on sixth day of Diwali and usually comes between October and November. (Also read: Chhath Puja 2022 Day 2: When is Kharna? Sunrise and sunset time, shubh muhurat, prasad, rules and rituals to follow)
THE FOUR DAYS OF CHHATH PUJA
This year Chhath festival began on October 28 with Nahay Khay (Chaturthi) where devotees take a dip in the holy water of Ganga, followed by Kharna (Panchami) or Lohanda on October 29 where a day-long nirjala fast (without food and water) is observed by devotees from sunrise to sunset. On the day of Kharna, the fast is broken with prasad of rasiya – the traditional kheer made with arwa chawal, jaggery and milk, that is first offered to the Lord Sun. This is the last meal before an arduous 36-hour fast begins and continues till the last or fourth day of Chhath Puja (October 31) – when Usha Arghya or doosra arghya is offered to Surya Bhagwan.
DATE OF SANDHYA ARGHYA
This year, Sandhya Arghya will be offered on October 30.
PRASAD FOR SANDHYA ARGHYA, THIRD DAY OF CHHATH PUJA
On the third day of the four-day festival of Chhath puja, arghya is offered to the setting sun and is known as Sandhya Arghya or Pehla Arghya. An elaborate preparation is made to prepare the Chhath prasad which holds a great significance in the festival starting from the third day of the festival.
Vratis and their family members take a bath early in the day and buy new bamboo soops and baskets to keep the prasad. Rice, sugarcane, thekua/pakwan/tikri, fresh fruits, dry fruits, peda, mithai, wheat, jaggery, nuts, coconuts, ghee, makhana, aruwa, paddy, lemon, gagal, apples, orange, bodi, cardamom, green ginger and a variety of satvik food items are kept in the soops.
Thekua is considered the most important prasad of Chhath Puja which is made of flour, sugar or jaggery. A solution of jaggery or sugar and water is added to the flour to form a dough which shouldn’t be too dry or soft. Those preparing the prasad take out a lump of dough, roll it and press it against the sancha. It is then dropped in a preheated kadai full of ghee or oil and fried till it is golden brown. The vrati and other family members all participate in the ritual of making prasad.
CHHATH PUJA 2022: SANDHYA ARGHYA TIME
Sunset time on Sandhya Arghya day would be around 5:37 PM during which arghya to Lord Surya will be offered.
RITUALS OF SANDHYA ARGYA
The soops and baskets made of bamboo filled with prasad items are carried to the ghat where Sandhya arghya is offered to Sun God and Chhathi Maiyya. On this day devotees do not eat anything and do not drink water. The nirjala fast continues till the sunrise of the fourth or last day of Chhath when Usha arghya is offered to Surya Bhagwan and Chhathi Maiyya. After the arghya on the last day of Chhath, prasad from the bamboo baskets is first eaten by vratis and then distributed to all the family members and those accompanying vratis.
The festival is celebrated to express gratitude for all the good things in life and pray for the prosperity and well-being of the family members as well as to seek the blessing of Sun god and his wife Usha.