Chhath Puja 2026 in Biratnagar: Events, Puja & Where to Celebrate

TL;DR

• 🕯️ Chhath Puja 2026 falls mid-November — Biratnagar's ghats fill with lamps and devotees across four days
• 🌊 Singhiya Ghat, Keshaliya Ghat, and Milan Chowk ghat are the city's main arghya sites
• 🛕 Khatu Shyam Mandir and Banglamukhi Temple see extended worship from Navratri through the Chhath window
• 🌅 The Usha Arghya at dawn on the festival's final day draws the largest crowds of the entire four-day period

Chhath Puja holds a particular place in Biratnagar's calendar. The city's Madhesi-majority population has observed this festival for generations, and each year the celebrations grow larger — drawing participants from across the Koshi Province and, increasingly, from the hill communities that share the same city. In 2026, the four-day festival is expected to run around November 13 to 16, with the main Sandhya Arghya (sunset offering) and the Usha Arghya (sunrise offering) drawing tens of thousands to the city's water bodies. The dates follow closely on the heels of Diwali on November 8 and Bhai Dooj on November 11, making mid-November one of the most continuously festive stretches of the year in Biratnagar.

The Ghats of Biratnagar

The city's celebration is spread across a network of rivers, ponds, and canals that the Biratnagar Metropolitan City prepares in the week before Nahay Khay begins. The most established site is Singhiya Ghat on the Singhiya Khola, where devotees have gathered for years and where the ghat atmosphere — lanterns reflected in the river, rangoli patterns on the banks, the distant sound of Chhath geet — is at its most concentrated. Devotees interviewed at the site in past years have described it as one of Biratnagar's oldest continuously observed ritual gathering points.

Keshaliya Ghat, one of the named sites the metropolitan municipality cleans and prepares each year, draws large numbers from nearby wards. The canal between wards 4 and 14 is among the internal water bodies that have been systematically cleared to make them suitable for ritual use. Milan Chowk ghat and Trimurti ghat round out the city's main sites, each serving specific neighborhoods and drawing their own crowds of vratis — the fasting devotees who observe the festival's strict four-day regimen of bathing, fasting, and offerings.

The key dates to plan around: Nahay Khay opens the festival with a ritual bath and a single meal. Kharna follows the next evening — the sunset fast includes an offering of rice kheer made without salt. The third evening brings the Sandhya Arghya, the first direct offering to the sun, made as it sets over the water. The fourth morning's Usha Arghya — the sunrise offering — concludes the vrat and the extended fast. After the Usha Arghya, devotees share prasad with family, neighbors, and passersby: thekua (a wheat and jaggery sweet), bhusuwa (a rice-based preparation), seasonal fruits, and sugarcane.

Insider Tip: Arrive at Singhiya Ghat at least 90 minutes before sunset on the Sandhya Arghya day. The banks fill fast and the most favorable positions for watching the arghya go to those already in place. Beforehand, the Gudri area of Biratnagar hosts a two-day Chhath market with fresh marigolds, sugarcane, citrus, and ritual supplies spread along a closed road. Visiting the Gudri market before heading to the ghat gives you the full arc of the festival's preparation — not only the ceremony itself.

Temple Worship Through the Season

Chhath is fundamentally a ghat festival, but Biratnagar's temples see elevated activity in the days leading up to the puja. Khatu Shyam Mandir on Shahid Marga and the Banglamukhi Temple on Banglamukhi Marg are among the most visited, with extended morning and evening prayers continuing from Navratri in mid-October through Diwali and into the Chhath window. Many vratis treat this entire seasonal arc — Navratri, Dussehra, Diwali, Bhai Dooj, Chhath — as a single continuous period of heightened devotion, visiting both temples and ghats at different points across the five weeks.

Radha Krishna Temple in Hathkhola, another of the city's established temples, draws a steadier, quieter crowd and offers a less congested setting for darshan in the days immediately before the main puja.

What Makes Biratnagar's Celebration Distinct

Journalists and local reporters covering Chhath in Biratnagar have consistently noted the cross-community character of the ghats. The festival brings together Madhesi, Pahadi, Hindu, and Muslim residents in the same crowds at the same water's edge — an unusual convergence that the festival itself seems to generate without formal effort or coordination. Local coverage from previous years has described the sight of people from communities that rarely share public ritual space standing in the same row at the ghat, sharing water and prasad.

The Biratnagar Metropolitan City's annual ghat preparation is itself a visible civic ritual. Clearing rivers, canals, and ponds typically completes in the week before Nahay Khay, and the sight of municipal workers cleaning the Singhiya Khola is as familiar a signal of Chhath's approach as the first flower stalls appearing in Gudri.

FAQ

When does Chhath Puja fall in 2026? The festival is expected to run from approximately November 13 to 16, with the Usha Arghya at dawn on November 16. Confirm the exact dates with a Nepali panchang closer to the festival.

What are the main Chhath ghats in Biratnagar? The recognized sites include Singhiya Ghat on the Singhiya Khola, Keshaliya Ghat, Milan Chowk ghat, and Trimurti ghat, along with the network of canals and ponds prepared by the Biratnagar Metropolitan City each year.

Is Chhath celebrated differently in Nepal than in India? The rituals are the same — Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, Usha Arghya — but Biratnagar's celebration is known for its cross-community participation, with devotees from Madhesi and hill communities observing together at shared ghats.

What prasad is associated with Chhath? Traditional prasad includes thekua, bhusuwa, seasonal fruits, and sugarcane. These are offered to the sun god and then distributed among participants and neighbors.

What is the significance of the Usha Arghya? The Usha Arghya is the sunrise offering on the fourth day of Chhath, made directly to the rising sun. It marks the conclusion of the vrat and the breaking of the devotee's extended fast.

Bottom Line

Chhath Puja in Biratnagar is one of the region's most genuinely communal festivals — observed across community lines, prepared by the city itself, and anchored to water bodies that most of the year barely register on a visitor's map. If you plan to be in Biratnagar in mid-November 2026, arriving by the Kharna evening and staying through the Usha Arghya will give you the full arc of the festival.