Hindu Panchang Calendar

A panchang (panchanga, “five limbs”) is the Hindu almanac. For each day it gives the five limbs — tithi (lunar day), vara (weekday), nakshatra (lunar mansion), yoga and karana — together with sunrise, sunset, the lunar month and the auspicious and inauspicious times used to plan worship and ceremonies. Read more about the panchang.

A tithi is the time the Moon takes to gain 12 degrees on the Sun. There are 30 tithis in a lunar month: 15 in the bright half (Shukla paksha, ending at Purnima) and 15 in the dark half (Krishna paksha, ending at Amavasya). The tithi in force at sunrise names the day. What is a tithi?

Rahu Kaal is a period of about an hour and a half each day that tradition avoids for starting new work. The time from sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and Rahu Kaal is a fixed part for each weekday (the eighth on Sunday, the second on Monday, the seventh on Tuesday, the fifth on Wednesday, the sixth on Thursday, the fourth on Friday and the third on Saturday). Because it depends on sunrise and sunset, it changes with the city.

Abhijit Muhurta is the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of daytime, centred on local noon, and is considered auspicious for most work (traditionally not on Wednesday). Choghadiya divides the day and the night into eight parts each, named Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Char, Udveg, Rog and Kaal; the first four are favourable.

Positions are sidereal with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa. Sunrise and sunset are for the upper limb of the Sun with atmospheric refraction, and all times are shown in Indian Standard Time for the city you choose (or your own location if you allow it). The panchang day runs from one sunrise to the next.

The calculations use the Astronomy Engine ephemeris. Checked against a published panchang for New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Vadodara, sunrise, sunset, moonrise and Rahu Kaal agree to the minute, and tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana end times agree to within about a minute.

Festival dates depend on local sunrise and on regional custom, so one place has to be chosen. The festival list follows the New Delhi panchang; in other cities a festival can occasionally fall a day earlier or later. The daily panchang itself is calculated for the city you select.