Devotees in Meerut offer Sandhya Arghya to the setting Sun during Chhath Puja 2025, surrounded by diyas and devotional songs (Photo: Pinterest)
Chhath Puja is one of the most emotional and one of the most environmentally conscious festivals of Hinduism. It is dedicated to Surya, the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya, the goddess of strength and well-being. The festival, celebrated largely in Bihar, Jharkhand, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and certain pockets of West Bengal, symbolizes a thank you to the life giving energies of nature for their nourishment. In Meerut also, devotees perform this four-day observance of holly fasting and prayers near rivers and ponds.
The devotees in Meerut offered Sandhya Arghya on the evening of sunset on the evening of the last day of the festivities. The ritual is a very simple but significant act of reverence to the mighty cosmic source that gives life and sustains it. The festival scene is filled with devotion, traditional songs and spent families gathered near water bodies to make offerings of fruits and prasad.
The Usha Arghya morning prayer to the rising Sun will, in 2025, fall at sunrise, when light first graces the horizon. Devotees will neck deep stand in water as they offer arghya, loudly proclaiming hymns and mantras to Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiya. It is a sacred act signifying renewal, hope and continuity of life.
The Sandhya Arghya observed in 2025 is expected to be held around 5:38 PM at Meerut. The ghats will shine bright with diyas and devotion as vratis (devotees) pay their prayers to the setting Sun as dusk touched time that keeps the balance between dusk and dawn.
Kharna is on the second day which marks the fast overseen by the bhog preparation of gur-chawal (jaggery rice) and milk kheer. Prabhu worships it and breaks his fast while sharing the prasad with family members at a time marked with cleanliness and gratitude.
It is believed that the Chhath Puja muhurat in Meerut is around that very moment of sunrise. It was suggested that if at all an offering would attain the utmost spiritual effect in both Sandhya and Usha Arghya, it would have to be conducted exactly then.
From keeping an absolute nirjala vrat fasting from food and water from that day to sunrise on the next day, the third day after the puja celebration, devotees break the seekhansh. This sweet delicacy made of wheat flour and jaggery is called thekua and it is accompanied by fruits, sugarcane and coconuts carried in bamboo baskets.
The rituals commence from the holy bathing and extend to prayers, lighting of diyas, and offering arghya at the ghats. The whole family gather and sing bhajans to be blessed with peace, prosperity and health.
Suryast in Meerut is expected to occur during Sandhya Arghya around 5.38 PM as the Sun retraces its steps towards the horizon is lit by devotion in the ghats of the city is called out chants will be a permanent reminder to mankind about their sanguine relationship with the cosmic power sustaining life.
Disclaimer: Festival timings and rituals are based on general calculations for Meerut; devotees should verify local muhurat and temple schedules before observance.
