How to do the Chhath puja at home

Water, the prasad and raw milk, the blessing of the elders, and the prasad given to everyone.

1. The parana

   The house made ready

   1. Sweep and wash the house, and above all the kitchen and the place where the prasad will be made.
   2. Keep apart the vessels, the spoon and the stove that will be used only for the four days.
   3. From today no onion, garlic or meat is cooked in the house, for anyone.

   Chhath asks for purity before anything else: the prasad is made only where nothing impure has been.

   

2. The parana

   The bath at the river

   1. Go to the river or the pond in the morning and bathe.
   2. Fold your hands to Surya Dev as you come out of the water.
   3. Fill a clean vessel with the same water and carry it home; today's meal is cooked with it.
   4. Put on clean clothes, unstitched where the house keeps that custom — a sari, or a dhoti.
   

3. The parana

   The sankalp

   1. Stand facing the sun with a little water in the right palm.
   2. Say, in your own words, that you are keeping Chhath for these four days: name Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiya, and name those you keep it for.
   3. Let the water fall to the earth.

   Chhath has no priest: the one who keeps the vrat takes it, in the words of the house.

   
5. 4. Kaddu-bhaat
   5. The meal, taken as prasad

   These 2 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

A day without water, then after sunset the rasiyav of gur and arwa rice with roti, offered to Chhathi Maiya and Surya Dev and taken by the vrati first. The thirty-six hours begin.

1. 1. The chulha for the prasad
   2. The wheat for the thekua
   3. Rasiyav and roti
   4. The Kharna puja
   5. Chhathi Maiya's dhyana
   6. The prasad taken
   7. Prasad for the family and the neighbours

   These 7 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Shashthi's day: the thekua and the kasar made in purity, and the soop and the daura filled.

1. 1. The thekua
   2. The kasar
   3. The soop and the daura

   These 3 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

At the water before sunset, the vrati in the water facing west, the arghya as the sun goes down, and the katha.

1. 1. To the ghat
   2. Into the water
   3. Sandhya arghya
   4. The katha
   5. Priyavrat's stuti
   6. The songs, and home

   These 6 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

A night without water, kept on the floor; where a mannat asks for a kosi, it is filled under a canopy of sugarcane with the diyas lit.

1. 1. The night
   2. Kosi, where a mannat was made

   These 2 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Back at the same water while it is still dark, the vrati facing east, and the arghya as the sun rises.

1. 1. Back to the ghat before dawn
   2. Facing east
   3. Usha arghya
   4. Prasad at the water

   These 4 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Water, the prasad and raw milk, the blessing of the elders, and the prasad given to everyone.

1. 1. The parana
   2. Prasad for everyone

   These 2 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app