A song called "Chhathi Maiya" from Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia's "The Vvaan: Force of the Forest" has sent a lot of people outside Bihar searching the same question this week: who exactly is Chhathi Maiya?
For anyone who grew up with Chhath Puja, the answer feels almost too obvious to explain. For everyone else, here's the honest version.
She isn't "a goddess" in the generic sense
Chhathi Maiya is worshipped specifically as the sixth form of the divine mother — "Chhathi" literally referring to the sixth day, and the puja itself falling on the sixth day after Diwali. She's closely linked to Usha, the Vedic goddess of dawn, which is why the festival's most striking ritual is offering arghya to the rising and setting sun while standing in water at daybreak and dusk. This isn't a side ritual. It's the emotional center of the entire festival.
What the song captures — even without spelling any of this out — is the devotional intensity of that relationship. Chhath isn't a festival people observe casually. It's a four-day vow (vrat) of fasting, ritual purity, and physical endurance, often undertaken by women on behalf of their family's wellbeing. Seeing that intensity reflected on a mainstream screen, for an audience that's never witnessed it, is a genuinely new moment for the festival.
The offering that makes it real
Every Chhath puja is built around a specific, non-negotiable prasad: thekua. Made from wheat flour, jaggery, and ghee, hand-shaped and deep-fried until deeply golden, it's placed in the soop (bamboo winnowing tray) alongside seasonal fruit and offered directly to Chhathi Maiya and the Sun God during the arghya.
There's no substitute for it. You can debate a hundred other details of how a family does Chhath, but the soop without thekua isn't really a Chhath soop.
Why this moment matters beyond the song
Cultural attention is fickle — a song trends for a few weeks and moves on. But every year it happens, more people outside Bihar end up asking a version of the same question this song is prompting right now: what does an authentic Chhath actually involve, and what does the real prasad taste like?
That's the gap Kasaar exists to close — thekua made the way it's actually made in Bihari kitchens, for anyone who wants the real version of what they just saw on screen, not an approximation of it.
Ek Bite, Ek Yaad — Bihar ka apna swaad.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Chhathi Maiya?
Chhathi Maiya is the deity worshipped during Chhath Puja, regarded as the sixth form of the divine mother and closely associated with Usha, the Vedic goddess of dawn. She is worshipped for the wellbeing and prosperity of one's family.
What is offered to Chhathi Maiya during Chhath Puja?
The core offering is thekua — a fried wheat, jaggery, and ghee sweet — placed with seasonal fruit in a bamboo soop and offered during the sunrise and sunset arghya rituals.
Is the song "Chhathi Maiya" from a Bollywood film about Chhath Puja?
"Chhathi Maiya" is a song from "The Vvaan: Force of the Forest," starring Sidharth Malhotra and Tamannaah Bhatia. The film itself is not centered on Chhath Puja, but the song depicts the festival's devotional themes.
Related reading
Shop Kasaar Thekua · Chhath Puja Guide: Rituals & Prasad · The Voice Behind Every Thekua: Remembering Sharda Sinha
