Chhath Puja on the ghats: the Sun worshipped face to face

Chhath falls on the Shashthi of Kartik Shukla Paksha and runs four days. The two arghyas, to the setting and the rising sun, are the heart of it, and they follow the local Varanasi sunset and sunrise.

Chhath thanks Surya, the visible source of life, and honours Chhathi Maiya, the goddess of the sixth day who protects children and grants wellbeing. It is one of the very few Hindu festivals with no idol, no temple and no priest between the devotee and the deity: you stand in the water and address the Sun directly, as the Rig Veda's hymns to Surya and Usha did three thousand years ago, sometimes in those same words, sometimes in Bhojpuri and Maithili folk songs carrying the same meaning. It is unusual in another way too: the household's spiritual centre on these days is openly a woman, the vratin who keeps the 36-hour fast. The tradition is traced in the Mahabharata to Draupadi and the Pandavas, and to Karna, son of Surya, who is said to have offered it standing in the water.

• Nahay Khay (13 Nov): the vratin bathes in the Ganga and eats one pure, sattvik meal, often lauki with rice and chana dal, cooked without onion or garlic.
• Kharna (14 Nov): a full day's fast, broken after dusk with gur ki kheer and roti. From this moment the roughly 36-hour waterless fast begins.
• Sandhya Arghya (15 Nov): the family carries the soop and daura, loaded with thekua, fruit, sugarcane and coconut, to the ghat, singing Chhath geet. The vratin stands in the river and offers arghya of milk and water to the setting sun.
• Usha Arghya (16 Nov): before dawn the family returns to the ghat; arghya is offered to the rising sun and the fast is broken. Thekua, the wheat-and-jaggery prasad, is shared.

• Assi Ghat: organised, family-friendly, with space to set up and a gentler crowd; our usual recommendation for visitors.
• Dashashwamedh and Rajendra Prasad Ghats: the central intensity, denser and harder to hold a spot.
• Kedar Ghat and Tulsi Ghat: the neighbourhood Chhath, devotional and local.
• From a boat: a rowing boat holding position off the ghat gives you the whole lit riverbank of vratins and lamps at both arghyas without standing in the crowd.

From the ground: I put visiting families at Assi and take them out by boat for the Sandhya Arghya; you see a hundred vratins facing the same setting sun at once, which is the image you came for.

Chhath is a family vrat, not a ticketed event; the ghats are public and free, and there is nothing to buy your way into. That honesty cuts both ways. This is worship, not a show: the vratins around you are on hour thirty of a waterless fast, and the single most important thing a visitor does is stay respectful, keep back from the offerings, and never let non-fasting hands touch the prasad before it is offered. What we actually arrange is the comfortable frame around it: a ghat-side or five-star base so you are minutes from the water, a boat for the arghya vantage, a guide who explains each step in your language, and the timing so you are in place before the sun, not fighting the lane behind it. No fake VIP seats, no paid ghat passes; those do not exist here.

Fly into Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport (VNS), about 25 km out; trains serve Varanasi Junction, Banaras and Kashi stations. Chhath is one of the busiest travel weeks of the year across eastern UP and Bihar; book transport early. On the arghya evenings and mornings, the ghat lanes are walked, and our package guests are staged by private Innova Crysta at the nearest point that still moves. Full detail in the How to Reach guide.

Our package guests stay at the Taj Ganges or Hilton Varanasi with breakfast, close enough for the dawn arghya without a long pre-dawn drive; the Innova handles the ghat runs. Ghat-side guesthouses put you in the middle of the songs and sell out early for Chhath week. More in the Stay & Hotels guide.

• Dress modestly and warmly: mid-November dawns on the river are cold, and the ritual asks for respect.
• Keep well back from the vratins and the loaded soop; never touch or step over the offerings.
• Photograph the scene, not faces at close range, and never the vratins mid-ritual without a smile and a nod first.
• Small notes for the boat and offerings you may buy to float; a torch for the dawn.
• If you are fasting yourself, tell your guide and the whole visit paces around the vrat.

The 4 Days Ayodhya Varanasi Tour Package, ₹50,000 per couple (₹25,000 per person), sits naturally across Chhath week with the ghat evenings built in, Taj or Hilton base and Innova throughout. A dedicated Chhath ghat itinerary, with the boat vantage for both arghyas, builds on one flat rate: ₹12,500 per day for two guests, confirmed in writing before any advance. Chhath falls just after Deepotsav and just before Kartik Purnima, so it pairs with the Ganga Mahotsav + Dev Deepawali package for a full Kartik fortnight. Browse all packages.