King Priyavrat was the son of Svayambhuva Manu. He was a yogi, always given to tapas, and had no wish to marry at all. At Brahma ji's command he married, but a long time passed and no child was born in his house.
Then the sage Kashyap performed the putreshti yajna for him, and gave the charu, the offering of the yajna, to Queen Malini. As soon as she ate it, she conceived. For twelve years she carried the child, and then she gave birth to a son who shone like gold and was whole in every limb — but the child was dead, his eyes turned upward.
Seeing this, every woman of the house wept, and the mother fainted in her grief. The king carried the child to the cremation ground. There he held him to his chest and wept. He could not bring himself to let the child go, and his grief was so deep that he forgot all his yoga and was ready to give up his own life.
At that very moment he saw a vimana coming down from the sky — clear as pure crystal, bright with jewels, hung with garlands of flowers. In it sat a Devi, fair as a white champa flower, adorned with jewels, smiling gently, full of compassion. The king laid the child down on the earth, praised the Devi, offered Her puja, and asked: O Devi, who are You?
The Devi said: I am Devasena, the mind-born daughter of Brahma ji. Brahma ji made me from his mind and gave me to Skanda. Among the Matrikas, the Mothers, I am known; and because I am the sixth part of Prakriti, the world knows me as Shashthi. To the one who has no son I give a son; to the poor I give wealth; to the one who does good work I give its good fruit. Joy and sorrow, fear and grief, plenty and want — all of it comes from one's own karma.
Saying this, the Devi lifted the child, and with ease She brought him back to life. The king saw the golden child smiling. But the Devi began to rise toward the sky with the child in Her arms. Then, his throat and lips dry, the king praised Her once again.
Pleased with the king's praise, the Devi said: You are the son of Svayambhuva Manu, a king over the three worlds. Have my puja made everywhere, and make it yourself, and then I will give you this son. His name will be Suvrat; he will be virtuous, learned and a yogi, and his name will be known through the worlds. Saying this, the Devi placed the child in the king's arms, gave him Her blessing, and went back to heaven.
The king came home with a glad heart and told everyone how his son had come back. The men and women of the city rejoiced, and there was celebration everywhere. The king offered puja to the Devi and gave wealth to the Brahmins. From then on he had Shashthi Devi's festival kept on the Shukla Shashthi of every month; he had Her puja made on the sixth day after a child's birth and on the twenty-first, and at every good moment of a child's life, at the first rice too — and he made it himself. This is the story the Brahmavaivarta Purana tells, and from it Shashthi Devi came to be given puja as the one who protects children and gives them to those who long for them.
The families who keep Chhath call this same Shashthi Devi Chhathi Maiya, and hold Kartik Shukla Shashthi to be Her greatest day. In the house it is told that Chhathi Maiya is Brahma ji's mind-born daughter and Surya Dev's sister; so on this day the arghya is given to Surya Dev, and Chhathi Maiya is asked to keep the children safe.
Other stories are told in the house as well. Families tell that after the return from Lanka, when Ram rajya was founded, Shri Ram and Sita Maa kept the vrat on Kartik Shukla Shashthi and offered puja to Surya Dev, and on Saptami at sunrise offered it again and received His blessing. It is told too that Kunti gave her devotion to Surya Dev and was given a son like Karna; that Karna, Surya Dev's son, stood every day in water up to his waist to give Surya Dev the arghya, and that the arghya at Chhath is given in the same way still; and that when the Pandavas had lost their kingdom at dice, Draupadi kept the Chhath vrat and the Pandavas had their kingdom back.
That is why Chhath has no murti and no priest. The vrati stands in the water with the soop in her hands, the setting or the rising sun before her, and Chhathi Maiya in her heart — She who lifted a king's dead child in Her arms and gave him life.
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