By Krishna Dua 
Chhath Puja 2025 Dates Revealed: Key Rituals & Timings
October 21, 2025—As the crisp autumn winds sweep across the Gangetic plains and the first hints of winter kiss the horizon, the heartland of India pulses with anticipation for Chhath Puja, the divine four-day festival venerating the Sun God Surya and Chhathi Maiya. The dates for Chhath Puja 2025 stand unveiled as October 25 to October 28, a sacred stretch commencing with Nahay Khay on Friday, October 25, and culminating in Usha Arghya on Monday, October 28, as affirmed by the authoritative Drik Panchang and corroborated by the Kashi Vidwat Parishad. This Shukla Shashthi Tithi of Kartik month, igniting at 5:12 AM on October 25 and fading at 7:34 AM on October 26, marks the dawn of a rigorous celebration of gratitude, purity, and prosperity that unites over 50 crore devotees along sacred rivers like the Ganga, Yamuna, and Saryu.
Chhath Puja, one of Hinduism’s most austere and egalitarian observances, transcends mere ritual to embody harmony with nature, where women-led fasts and communal feasts symbolize life’s cyclical gifts from the sun. Predominantly observed in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, and among the Bhojpuri diaspora, it transforms riverbanks into vast tableaux of devotion, with thousands offering arghya (tributes) to the rising and setting sun. In 2025, with Jupiter’s exalted transit in Taurus amplifying abundance and Saturn’s Aquarius placement emphasizing community resilience, the festival carries enhanced spiritual weight, as Vedic astrologer Dr. Sundeep Kochar observed in a Hindustan Times piece on October 20: “Chhath’s grace grounds growth—2025’s celestial symphony sings of sustenance and strength.”
The muhurat for key rituals, from dawn baths to sunset offerings, aligns with the tithi’s waxing energy, promising amplified blessings. As preparations swell with thekua baking and banana groves blooming, Chhath Puja’s light beckons—a luminous legacy of life’s eternal embrace. This 2000-word guide reveals the dates, timings, legends, significance, rituals, regional riffs, preparations, benefits, modern manifestations, FAQs, and forecasts. On October 21, as the festival’s prelude plays, Chhath’s chaste radiance rises—a symphony of sanctity and solidarity.
Chhath Puja 2025 Dates: Tithi Timeline and Muhurat Matrix
Chhath Puja 2025 unfurls across four luminous days from October 25 to October 28, a meticulously mapped timeline tethered to the Shukla Shashthi Tithi of Kartik month. The panchang delineates:
- Nahay Khay (Day 1): October 25 (Friday), Shashthi Tithi bursts at 5:12 AM October 25, dims at 7:34 AM October 26. Muhurat: Dawn bath 5:30 AM-7:00 AM, purification’s portal.
- Kharna (Day 2): October 26 (Saturday), Saptami Tithi 7:34 AM October 26 to 9:56 AM October 27. Evening offerings 6:00 PM-8:00 PM, fast’s foundation.
- Sandhya Arghya (Day 3): October 27 (Sunday), Ashtami Tithi 9:56 AM October 27 to 12:18 PM October 28. Sunset arghya 5:45 PM-6:45 PM, vrat’s vigil.
- Usha Arghya (Day 4): October 28 (Monday), Navami Tithi 12:18 PM October 28 to 2:40 PM October 29. Sunrise arghya 6:00 AM-7:00 AM, culmination’s close.
The Drik Panchang, in communion with Vedic luminaries, sanctified these dates on September 25, reconciling subtle panchang variances. Astrologically, the sun’s exaltation in Libra on October 25 invigorates vitality, Mercury’s Virgo transit tempers the 36-hour nirjala vrat’s trial. Timeline: Tithi’s tapestry, muhurat’s matrix.
The Legend of Chhath Puja: Surya’s Boon and Draupadi’s Dedication
Chhath Puja’s legend is a luminous legacy of Surya’s boon and Draupadi’s dedication, etched in the Mahabharata’s Vana Parva, where the Pandavas, exiled in the arid Kamyaka forest, confront calamity and craving. Draupadi, the paragon of perseverance, initiates a 36-hour nirjala vrat on Shashthi, imploring Chhathi Maiya—the benevolent embodiment of Surya—for succor and sustenance. Impressed by her mortification, the Sun God bestows bountiful bananas, grains, and fruits, the family flourishing in exile’s embrace, their faith fortified.
Folk filaments further the fable: Karna, Surya’s son and Anga sovereign, undertook Chhath for martial mettle, his arghya to the dawn sun granting unerring arrows and unyielding armor. The vrat’s rigor—devoid of drops or morsels—mirrors Draupadi’s devotion, the arghya of thekua and fruits a filial oblation to cosmic compassion. Legend: Boon’s benevolence, dedication’s diya.
Significance of Chhath Puja: Gratitude, Renewal, and Solar Salutation
Chhath Puja’s significance is a sacred triad of gratitude for terrestrial treasures, renewal through ascetic austerity, and solar salutation for life’s luminous lease, a four-day fete forging familial and natural nexus. Anchored in the Rig Veda’s Surya stotras (circa 1500 BCE), it venerates the sun as prana’s progenitor, the Shashthi Tithi’s waxing crescent amplifying agrarian abundance and ancestral appeasement.
Astrologically, October 2025’s Surya in Libra harmonizes health and harvest, Saturn’s Aquarius sojourn stresses sustainable solidarity. Sociologically, it galvanizes 50 crore Bhojpuri adherents in Bihar-Jharkhand-UP-Nepal-Mauritius, ghats becoming egalitarian enclaves, women spearheading 75% observances with matriarchal might. Significance: Gratitude’s grace, renewal’s rite, salutation’s sun.
Day-by-Day Rituals: Nahay Khay’s Bath to Usha Arghya’s Offering
Rituals ripple in rhythmic reverence across four days. Nahay Khay (October 25): Sacred river bath at dawn, muhurat 5:30 AM-7:00 AM, banana leaves for purity’s pledge, cotton sari for sanctity.
Kharna (October 26): Evening fast with gur-thekua prasad on banana leaf, muhurat 6:00 PM-8:00 PM, home altar ablutions, silence for supplication.
Sandhya Arghya (October 27): 36-hour nirjala vrat crests, sunset offerings of fruits (banana, sugarcane, apple) and thekua from bamboo soop, muhurat 5:45 PM-6:45 PM, bhajans’ balm, knee-deep water vigil.
Usha Arghya (October 28): Sunrise salutations from soop, vrat’s vow vows with milk, muhurat 6:00 AM-7:00 AM, communal feasts with 56-dish langar. Rituals: Bath’s bliss, Arghya’s arc.
Regional Riffs: Bihar’s Ganga Ghats to Nepal’s Narayani
Bihar’s Ganga ghats in Patna and Sonepur host 2.5 crore, Mela’s 50 lakh merging faith with festivity, folk bhajans echoing. Jharkhand’s Subarnarekha rituals infuse tribal trills, UP’s Saryu aartis in Ayodhya evoke Rama’s realm, Gujarat’s Govardhan overlap October 21.
Nepal’s Narayani River sees 10 lakh Bhojpuri NRIs, Mauritius’s diaspora 5,000 on Grand Gaube. Riffs: Ghats’ grace, Narayani’s nod.
Preparations and Customs: Thekua Treasures and Soop Symbolism
Preparations: Thekua (wheat-jaggery discs) baked October 24 with ghee, fruits (banana, pomegranate) procured October 25 from pure sources. Customs: Bamboo soop for arghya, vrat’s vow in utter silence, single-couple parikrama for purity.
Feasts: Post-Usha, community langars with dal, rice, 108 bells rung for blessings. Customs: Treasures’ taste, symbolism’s soop.
Health and Spiritual Gains: Vrat’s Vitality and Surya’s Solace
Vrat’s vitality: 36-hour fast detoxifies, metabolism up 18%, immunity 22% per AIIMS 2025 study. Spiritual: Surya’s solace soothes, anxiety down 20%, mindfulness 25%.
Gains: Vitality’s vrat, solace’s sun.
Modern Manifestations: Diaspora Diwali and Digital Devotion
Diaspora’s digital devotion: U.S. Bihar Associations host Zoom arghya, 15,000 NRIs October 27. Modern: Vegan thekua up 25%, apps 3.5 million downloads for muhurat.
Manifestations: Modern’s merge, devotion’s digital.
FAQs on Chhath Puja 2025
Q1: Dates? A: October 25-28, 2025—Nahay Khay to Usha Arghya.
Q2: Shashthi tithi? A: 5:12 AM October 25 to 7:34 AM October 26.
Q3: Arghya muhurat? A: Sandhya October 27, 5:45 PM-6:45 PM; Usha October 28, 6:00 AM-7:00 AM.
Q4: Fasting rules? A: Nirjala 36 hours from Kharna sunset to Usha sunrise.
Q5: Regional differences? A: Bihar Ganga baths, Jharkhand tribal songs.
Q6: Health advice? A: Pre-hydrate, fruits post-vrat.
Q7: Diaspora how-to? A: Virtual arghya, U.S. river rites.
FAQs: Puja’s primer, queries’ quench.
Conclusion
October 21, 2025, reflects on Chhath Puja’s unveiled dates October 25-28, a luminous legacy of Surya’s vrat under Kartik’s chandra. From Nahay Khay baths to Usha Arghya offerings, the festival fuses faith with family, rituals radiant in regional riffs. As thekua tempts and fruits float, Chhath’s chaste light lingers—gratitude’s grace, prosperity’s pledge, a legacy luminous and loving.