Randhan Chhath 2016

Randhan Chhath is a vrat observed according to the Hindu calendar. Its date and customary practices can vary by region and local Panchang.

Randhan Chhath is a Gujarati household preparation day on Shravan Krishna Shashthi, immediately preceding Shitala Satam. The name means the sixth day devoted to cooking. Because many families traditionally do not light their hearth on the following day, they prepare dishes in advance. Rotla, puri, thepla, sweets and suitable vegetables may be cooked, while the stove is cleaned and symbolically given rest.

The custom relates to worship of Shitala Mata, whose name means cooling and whose traditional iconography is associated with protection from fever and eruptive illnesses. Those religious associations arose in communities living with epidemics, but they do not show that consuming stored food prevents or cures infections. Safe cooling, refrigeration where available and hygienic storage matter, especially in the monsoon heat.

Families eat the previously prepared food on Shitala Satam and offer prayers according to local tradition. Randhan Chhath is therefore a preparation day rather than an independent heroic birth story. The sunrise Shashthi rule should be linked to the actual local Shitala Satam schedule; the linked two-day observance must not be collapsed into one date.

Randhan Chhath is valued for devotion, family tradition and the spiritual or seasonal meaning attached to the day.

Thepla, puri, bhajiya, sukhdi and vada are made in quantity and kept. After the last of it the stove is cleaned, marked with kumkum and worshipped, and not lit again until the morning after Shitala Satam.

Gujarati household preparation day on Shravan Krishna Shashthi preceding Shitala Satam.