Thekua: Everything You Need to Know About Bihar's Traditional Festive Pakwaan

Thekua is a hand-pressed, slow-fried sweet made from whole wheat flour, jaggery or sugar, and ghee. It is the central offering of Chhath in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai of Nepal. Outside the festival, it is the sweet that travels: packed for a daughter leaving after her wedding, given to guests for the journey home, kept in a steel dabba next to the chai.

Most of what's written about thekua online is a recipe with a paragraph of background. This guide covers the rest too: what the different names mean, why thekua is made on one particular morning of Chhath, what the carved wooden sancha is and how it passes from mother to daughter, why one batch turns out rock hard and another stays raw in the middle, and how long it actually keeps.

It is written with Kalpana Jha, who has made thekua in Mithila all her life and now leads the kitchen at JhaJi Store in Darbhanga.

"In Mithila it is made in almost every home. It is the main sweet of the festival."

— Kalpana Jha

1. Thekua at a glance

2. What thekua is, and what it isn't

Thekua gets called a "Bihari cookie" or an "Indian fried biscuit," and neither is quite right.

A biscuit or cookie is baked, and usually leavened. Thekua is neither. It is a stiff dough, worked as little as possible, pressed into shape and fried slowly in a kadhai. The result is closer to shortbread in how it eats: dense, crumbly, rich with ghee, with a crisp outside. It doesn't snap like a biscuit and it isn't chewy like a cookie.

It also gets confused with a few neighbours:

The one feature no neighbour shares is the pattern pressed in from a wooden mould. A thekua with no pattern is usually a home version made without a sancha, which is common and perfectly fine. A thekua with a uniform, perfectly round, machine-cut edge is almost always factory-made.

3. The name: thekua, khajuria, khajuri, tikiya

Ask five people from Bihar what the difference is between thekua and khajuria and you may get five answers. Recipe sites disagree too: some say thekua is the atta-and-jaggery version and khajuri the maida-and-sugar one, some say the jaggery version is thekua and the sugar version is khajur, and Wikipedia treats them all as one thing.

In Kalpana ji's home in Mithila, the line falls between atta-and-gud and maida-and-sugar:

"In Mithila it is called thekua or khajuria. The ones made with atta are made with gud, and very few dry fruits go in — just gud, elaichi and saunf. The one made with maida, call it tikiya, some also call it khajuri — that has dry fruits, elaichi, kishmish, and it is made with sugar. That is also very tasty."

— Kalpana Jha

Two notes make this more than one family's habit:

• Some homes also separate them by shape. Kalpana ji describes thekua in some homes as shaped like a paan leaf, while tikiya and khajuri are rounder.
• Nepal keeps them apart too. In Nepal's Madhesh, Chhath offerings are listed as thekuwa, khajuri and kasar — separate items, not one sweet under two names (Tribune/ANI).

The honest answer, then: the words overlap, and they often describe two related sweets rather than two names for one. If someone says khajuri and means the maida-and-sugar one, they aren't wrong.

Where the word "thekua" comes from

The most common explanation is that thekua comes from thokna, to hammer or press hard, because the dough is pressed firmly onto the mould (My Diverse Kitchen, Goya Journal). There is no dictionary record to settle it, but the verb is still in use. Describing how she shapes each piece, Kalpana ji says: "सांचे पे उसको ठोकिए" — "press it hard onto the sancha."

4. History: what's known, and what's only claimed

Thekua has no written recipe from centuries ago. What we have is the festival it belongs to, the tools that survive in homes, and a few modern records.

What's well documented

• Thekua is the most closely identified offering of Chhath, the four-day festival to the Sun and Chhathi Maiya celebrated across Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and southern Nepal (Wikipedia: Chhath).
• Chhath is an agricultural thanksgiving: it falls after the monsoon harvest, and wheat, jaggery and sugarcane — all in the soop — are that season's produce (Hinduism Today).
• The Government of India's Mann Ki Baat booklet (October 2025) describes thekua as the main Chhath prasad and reads its round shape as a symbol of the sun (CBC India, p.24).
• The moulds are heirlooms. Kalpana ji's sancha came from her mother; she says the designs go back through her mother to her nani and dadi (section 6).

What's claimed but not established

• Some articles, and now Wikipedia, say thekua is mentioned in the Rigveda. That claim traces back to a single TV news feature; we haven't found it in a primary source. Treat it as a popular belief, not history.

A Darbhanga footnote

• In 2019, a group of 16 people from Darbhanga made a 91 kg thekua to try for the Limca Book of Records (Wikipedia, citing the Times of India).

5. Thekua and Chhath

When thekua is made

Online sources disagree on this: some say thekua is made on Kharna evening, others on the morning of the third day. In Mithila, Kalpana ji is clear:

"On Kharna day, thekua is not made — there is puja that day. On the day of the evening arghya, from the morning itself, the women bathe, get ready, and start making it."

— Kalpana Jha

So the order in her home is:

Chhath 2026 falls on 13–16 November, with the evening arghya on Sunday 15 November (Drik Panchang).

The rules of the prasad kitchen

"The wheat is washed and dried beforehand — on Nahay Khay day the women wash and dry it — then it is pounded into flour at home. Even now this is the rule at Chhath. The women of Mithila have not broken it to this day. Nothing ready-made comes from the market."

— Kalpana Jha

What she describes:

• Home-made flour. Wheat washed and sun-dried on Nahay Khay, pounded into atta at home.
• New and clean. A new chulha, new vessels, and a new changeri or soop to arrange the offering in.
• Bathed and ready. The women cook only after bathing.
• Everyone's hands. The vrati (the one keeping the fast) touches the dough too, and older children help rub in the ghee.
• Nothing bought. The whole offering is made at home.

This is why we say plainly: prasad thekua is made at home, by the family, under these rules. That is the point of it. A thekua you buy is for eating, gifting and sending — not for the soop.

What goes in the soop

Each soop or daala holds thekua alongside the season's produce: sugarcane, coconut, oranges, apples and bananas. Many homes also make bhuswa, a sweet from rice flour and gud, for the same daala.

The size of the offering grows with the family:

"In each soop, four or five thekua — as many as the family has vowed. Our dadi and nani would make a mannat: if this work of ours is done, we will offer a pair of coconuts, or thekua with more pakwaan. As wishes are fulfilled, the daala grows. As the family grows, so does what goes in it."

— Kalpana Jha

If your home doesn't make it

Thekua is meant to be shared. Kalpana ji describes women at the pond giving out prasad, singing as they go, and anyone who wants it can step forward and receive it in the fold of their sari or dupatta (khoichha).

6. The sancha, and what the patterns are

A sancha is a block of carved wood onto which each ball of dough is pressed by hand. The carving leaves a pattern on top of the thekua, and the rough edges come from the dough spreading under the palm.

Where they come from

"In our time, at a daughter's gauna, a box was given with every household thing a mother gives her daughter. My mother gave me this thekua sancha then, with three or four designs. I still have it."

— Kalpana Jha

She says the designs are not new — they came to her from her mother, and before that from her nani and dadi — and that mothers still give a sancha to their daughters at marriage, "so that the daughter can use it whenever she needs."

Wood

Usually mango or sheesham. In Bihar and Mithila, most homes have a small garden with mango, sheesham and jackfruit trees, and families would take wood from their own trees to a badhai (carpenter) to have the moulds carved.

Today most sanchas are bought ready-made from the market, and the JhaJi kitchen uses market-bought moulds so that each of the women working on a batch has one. Kalpana ji's own set, from her mother, she still keeps.

The patterns

The designs on Kalpana ji's own moulds:

• Paan leaf — the betel leaf shape
• A round flower — like a sunflower or a chakri, with petals radiating from the centre

Other readings of the patterns exist. The Government of India's Mann Ki Baat booklet reads thekua's round shape as the sun (CBC India), and some say the lines stand for wheat and crops (Curly Tales, via Times Now). In Kalpana ji's account, the main reason is simpler: "made on a sancha, it looks beautiful."

Caring for a sancha

"Leave it a little while in lukewarm water — no surf, no soap. Scrub it with something rough, like a thick cloth, wipe it, and dry it completely before putting it away. If it stays damp, fungus can grow."

— Kalpana Jha

Without a sancha

Press the pattern with the back of a fork, the ridged base of a steel glass, or a clean comb. The pattern is shallower, but the thekua tastes the same.

7. Ingredients, and what each one does

Every ingredient in thekua has a job. When a batch goes wrong, it is almost always one of these doing too much or too little.

Whole wheat atta. The body of the thekua. It gives the nutty taste and the slightly rough, sandy bite. A coarser atta gives more bite; maida makes a smoother, different sweet (the tikiya or khajuri in section 3).

Suji (semolina). Many homes, including ours, add a little. It gives tiny pockets of extra crunch. Too much and the thekua starts to feel gritty.

Ghee, rubbed into the flour (moyan). This is the step that decides texture. Warm ghee rubbed into dry flour coats it, so when the gud water goes in, the dough stays short and crumbly instead of turning stretchy. Kalpana ji calls this the most important step:

"If the moyan isn't given properly, the thekua becomes very hard, and inside it won't taste as good. That is why rubbing it in matters most."

— Kalpana Jha

Too little ghee and the thekua turns hard; too much and, in her words, it becomes "over-khasta" and breaks.

Gud (or cheeni). Sweetness, and the liquid that binds the dough. The gud is soaked in lukewarm water until it swells and dissolves, then mashed — not boiled into a syrup.

Dried coconut (gari). Kalpana ji grates it coarsely rather than chopping it: chopped pieces sit on the surface and burn in the oil.

Saunf (fennel). The aroma most people remember. She says it comes through especially well in the atta-and-gud thekua.

Elaichi (cardamom). Crushed fresh, it lifts the sweetness so the thekua doesn't taste flat.

Dry fruits (optional). In the traditional method, only coconut, saunf and elaichi go in. Dry fruits are a richer, more recent addition — and more typical of the maida tikiya.

Frying fat. At home, thekua is often fried in ghee, as Kalpana ji does for her family. What matters most is a fat that holds a steady low heat for a long fry without burning. In the JhaJi kitchen, desi ghee goes into the dough and the thekua is fried in rice bran oil.

8. Gud or cheeni: what changes

The dough, the moyan, the pressing and the slow fry stay the same. Only the sweetener changes, and it changes three things.

Gud thekua is what most people from Bihar picture when they hear the word. Cheeni thekua suits people who find jaggery's depth too strong.

9. A home recipe, Kalpana ji's method

Variation: maida tikiya (khajuri)

Kalpana ji's method for the maida version is the same, with three differences:

• Maida and sugar instead of atta and gud. Soak the sugar in water for half an hour to an hour before using.
• Less ghee. Too much moyan in maida makes it "over-khasta" and it breaks in the oil.
• Dry fruits. Add kishmish, lightly crushed cashew and coconut along with the saunf and elaichi.

The dough should be in between — "not too wet, not too tight." Press it onto the sancha and fry it the same slow way.

10. Why thekua goes wrong, and how to fix it

11. Regional variations and newer versions

Across the region

• Mithila (Kalpana ji's home): atta-and-gud thekua, flavoured with saunf, elaichi and coarsely grated coconut; dry fruits kept out of the traditional version. The maida-and-sugar tikiya or khajuri is a separate, richer sweet.
• Nepal's Madhesh and Terai: called thekuwa, and offered at Chhath alongside separate khajuri and kasar in the offering basket (Tribune/ANI). For Nepal's Madheshi community, Chhath is part of their Mithila heritage (Kathmandu Post).
• Elsewhere in Bihar, Jharkhand and eastern UP: the same base, with variations in sweetener, shape and size from home to home.

Newer versions

• Dry fruit thekua: richer, with cashew, almond, pistachio or raisins folded in.
• Milk thekua: milk in place of water makes it softer and richer, but it keeps for much less time and is better refrigerated.
• Baked thekua: lighter, but the texture is closer to a biscuit than to the dense, crisp fried thekua.

12. Thekua as a gift: baatkharcha and daala

Before thekua became something you buy, it was something you were given. Kalpana ji describes two traditions.

The daala at a daughter's vidai

"When a daughter leaves after her wedding, we make what we call the daala — a gift of thekua, pidkiya, khaja and laddoo that goes with her. The bahu brings it too, and the daughter is given it."

— Kalpana Jha

Baatkharcha — food for the road

"When a guest has a very long journey and won't be able to cook as soon as they get home, we make these and call it baatkharcha — food to eat on the way. When I used to visit my mother and then leave with the children, she would make baatkharchi so the children wouldn't trouble us on the road. Thekua, pidkiya, namkeen, khajuri. Even after we reached home, we ate it comfortably for 15 days, a month."

— Kalpana Jha

The same idea carries on today: students from Bihar go back to their hostels with a tuck box of thekua and nimki (Goya Journal).

It has also travelled further. In June 2026, Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave thekua to the Speaker of Slovakia's National Council, Richard Raši, during his visit to Slovakia (IANS). Raši's video of opening the carved wooden box and tasting it went viral (Free Press Journal).

13. How long does thekua last, and why the answers online disagree

Search for this and you'll find answers anywhere from a few days to a month. They are describing different conditions. Two things end a thekua's life:

Moisture. A cooled thekua is dry and crisp. Left exposed, it slowly takes moisture from the air and goes soft. Jaggery pulls in moisture more readily than sugar, so a gud thekua left open softens faster. This is why thekua should be stored only after it has cooled completely — warmth left inside turns to moisture in the box.

Air. The ghee and oil slowly react with air and turn stale. You notice it as a smell like old oil before you notice it in the taste.

So the honest answer depends on how it's kept:

Our thekua is packed in an airtight jar with a small absorber sachet that takes up both oxygen and moisture, which slows both kinds of staling. That's how it keeps for 90 days. Once you open the jar, close the lid tightly after every use and keep it in a cool, dry place; it stays good through the best-before date on the jar.

Don't refrigerate thekua unless it was made with milk — the fridge is humid and will soften it.

14. Nutrition

Thekua is a festive sweet made with flour, jaggery or sugar, and ghee, and it is fried. It is calorie-dense, and that's the honest starting point.

General food databases list a typical piece at around 80 calories, or about 400 calories per 100 g (FatSecret). The real number for any thekua depends on its size, how much ghee and sweetener went in, whether dry fruits were added, and how long it sat in the oil.

• Atta vs maida. Whole wheat thekua carries more fibre and a fuller taste than a maida one.
• Gud vs cheeni. Jaggery is less refined than sugar, but it is still sugar. It isn't a reason to eat more, and it isn't safer for diabetics (see FAQ).
• Portion. One or two pieces with chai is how most families eat it outside the festival.

15. How to tell a good thekua when you're buying

If you didn't grow up with it, here is what to look for:

• Atta first on the ingredient list. Whole wheat is the base of traditional thekua. A maida-based one is the tikiya — a different sweet.
• A pressed pattern and slightly rough edges. That means it was pressed by hand onto a mould. Perfectly smooth, identical rounds are machine-made.
• Even colour all the way through. Golden to deep amber, with no burnt dark patches. Break one: the centre should be cooked and crumbly, not pale and doughy.
• The bite. Firm and crisp outside, crumbly inside. Not chewy, and not so hard you worry about a tooth.
• The smell. Saunf, elaichi and ghee when you open the pack. A smell like old oil means it's stale.
• The packing. A long shelf life is believable only with airtight packing. Thekua in a loose plastic bag claiming months is worth questioning.

Thekua from our kitchen in Darbhanga

At JhaJi Store, Kalpana Jha and the women of our kitchen make thekua the way it is made in her home in Mithila: whole wheat atta with a little suji, desi ghee rubbed in by hand until it holds in a fist, coarsely grated coconut, saunf and elaichi, pressed one piece at a time onto a carved wooden sancha and fried slowly in rice bran oil.

There are two kinds — Original, and Dry Fruit with cashew, almond and pistachio — each in gud or cheeni. Every jar is sealed airtight with an oxygen-and-moisture absorber and keeps for 90 days.

We don't make it as prasad. Prasad thekua belongs in your own kitchen. Ours is the baatkharcha for someone far from home: the box you send to a child in another city, the jar you take back after a visit, the plate next to the evening chai.

See how our thekua is made

16. Frequently asked questions

About the author

Kalpana Jha made pickles in her Mithila kitchen for over three decades. Since 2020 she has led the kitchen at JhaJi Store in Darbhanga, Bihar, where a team of home-chefs makes pickles, chutneys and thekua by hand. Her sancha came to her from her mother at her gauna, and she still uses it at home. 

Sources

• Thekua — Wikipedia — alternate names, regions, 91 kg Darbhanga thekua
• Chhath — Wikipedia — festival overview
• Khaja — Wikipedia — Silao association
• Mann Ki Baat booklet, Oct 2025, p.24 — Government of India — round shape as the sun
• Hinduism Today — Chhath as harvest thanksgiving
• Drik Panchang — Chhath Puja 2026 — festival dates
• Tribune (ANI) — thekuwa and khajuri in Nepal's Madhesh
• Kathmandu Post — Chhath in Madhesh
• My Diverse Kitchen and Goya Journal — thokna etymology; hostel tuck boxes
• Curly Tales — patterns as crops (via Times Now)
• IANS via Social News XYZ and Free Press Journal — thekua gifted in Slovakia
• FatSecret — calories
• ICICI Lombard — jaggery and blood sugar

Everything else on this page — the Mithila naming, the Chhath kitchen rules, the sancha, the method and the baatkharcha tradition — comes from Kalpana Jha's first-hand experience, recorded in October 2026 and translated from Hindi.

Last updated 30 October 2026