As the setting sun touches the horizon on Chhath Puja's Sandhya Arghya evening, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta extended warm wishes to devotees observing one of India's most demanding folk festivals — a celebration that turns every riverbank and water body in the capital into a congregation of faith.

In her message posted on 15 November 2026, CM Gupta conveyed: 'Heartfelt greetings to all devotees on the occasion of Sandhya Arghya during the great festival of popular faith, Chhath Puja. Our tradition of offering arghya even to the setting sun is a remarkable symbol of gratitude towards nature and the great values of Sanatan culture.' She further prayed that Chhathi Maiya and Bhagwan Bhaskar — the Sun God — bless all fasting devotees with success in their penance and bring happiness, prosperity and good health to every family.

What Sandhya Arghya marks in the Chhath cycle

Chhath Puja is a four-day festival dedicated to the Sun God and Chhathi Maiya — the folk deity revered as the Sun God's sister and guardian of family well-being. The festival is defined by extraordinary rigour: devotees undertake prolonged fasting, standing waist-deep in water, and offering arghya (ritual oblation) at both sunset and the following sunrise. The Sandhya Arghya — the evening offering to the departing sun — is the emotional centrepiece of the entire observance, embodying the rare cultural act of honouring a celestial body even as it fades from view.

Chhath's growing footprint in Delhi

Though rooted in Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, Chhath has become a defining festival on Delhi's calendar, carried westward by generations of migrants who have made the capital their home. Every year, the Yamuna ghats and neighbourhood water bodies fill with devotees in matching sarees and dhotis, transforming public spaces into open-air temples. For Delhi's political class, the festival represents both a cultural reality and a civic responsibility — ensuring clean, safe, accessible ghats for hundreds of thousands of worshippers.

CM Gupta's greeting reflects the standard but sincere outreach that leaders across parties extend toward communities whose festivals have travelled far beyond their geographic origins. The language of her message — invoking prakriti ke prati kritagyata (gratitude towards nature) alongside Sanatan sanskriti — frames Chhath not merely as a regional custom but as an expression of a broader civilisational ethic. When faith turns even a farewell into an act of reverence, the festival speaks for itself.