New Delhi, Delhi, India
Today's Panchang: Tithi, Nakshatra, Rahu Kaal and Choghadiya
The panchang is the Hindu almanac for a single day: five measures of the Sun and the Moon, plus the good and difficult windows people check before they begin something. Pick your city above to see today's tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vara, your sunrise and sunset, Rahu Kaal, Abhijit Muhurat, and the day and night Choghadiya.
About this tool
The five limbs of the panchang
Pancha means five and anga means limb, and each limb describes the day from a different angle. Four of them come from where the Sun and the Moon stand, so they change at their own pace rather than at midnight. The fifth is simply the day of the week.
- Tithi
- The lunar day. Each tithi is 12 degrees of distance between the Moon and the Sun, and there are thirty in a lunar month, fifteen in the bright half and fifteen in the dark half.
- Nakshatra
- The star the Moon is passing through, one of twenty seven. The Moon spends about a day in each.
- Yoga
- One of twenty seven combinations worked out by adding the longitudes of the Sun and the Moon. It is read for the general quality of the day.
- Karana
- Half of a tithi, so two karanas make one lunar day. There are eleven in all, seven that repeat and four that come once a month.
- Vara
- The weekday, each ruled by a planet: Sunday by the Sun, Monday by the Moon, and so on. In the panchang a day runs from one sunrise to the next.
Rahu Kaal and Abhijit Muhurat
Rahu Kaal is one of eight equal parts of the daylight hours, and which part it is depends on the weekday. If your sunrise is at 6 and your sunset at 6, each part lasts ninety minutes, but in winter it is shorter and in summer longer. By custom people avoid beginning something new in this window, such as a journey, a purchase or a ceremony. Work already under way simply carries on, and there is nothing to fear in it.
Abhijit Muhurat is the opposite: a window of roughly 48 minutes around local midday, the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas between sunrise and sunset. It is traditionally treated as a good time to begin something when no other muhurat has been fixed. Abhijit is traditionally not used on Wednesdays.
How to read the Choghadiya
Choghadiya splits the day into eight equal periods from sunrise to sunset, and the night into eight more from sunset to the next sunrise. Each carries one of seven names, and the order changes with the weekday. Many families and traders in western India use it for everyday timing, because it is easy to read at a glance.
- Amrit, Shubh, Labh
- The three good ones. Amrit is the nectar period, Shubh the auspicious one and Labh the one for gain, often chosen for business and new beginnings.
- Char
- Neutral. The name means moving, so it is usually considered fine for travel and everyday work.
- Udveg, Rog, Kaal
- The three to avoid for starting anything important. Let them pass and begin in the next good period instead.
Panchang questions
Why do the times change from city to city?
Because they are all counted from local sunrise and sunset. Delhi and Chennai see the Sun rise at different moments, so their Rahu Kaal, Abhijit Muhurat and Choghadiya differ too. Choose the city you are actually in.
Can the tithi or nakshatra change during the day?
Yes. They follow the Moon rather than the clock, so a tithi or nakshatra can end in the morning and the next one can run through the rest of the day. That is normal, and it is why a calendar sometimes skips a tithi or shows one across two days.
Should I cancel my plans because of Rahu Kaal?
No. It is a custom about when to begin something new, not a warning that anything will go wrong. If you can start a little earlier or later, many people do. If you cannot, the rest of your day and your own good sense matter far more.
What is the difference between Abhijit Muhurat and Choghadiya?
Abhijit is one window around midday. Choghadiya is a full timetable of the day and night with sixteen periods. Many people look at Choghadiya first for ordinary plans and treat Abhijit as a useful midday option, except on Wednesdays.
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