Today's Panchang

How to read today's Panchang

The tables above are the daily Panchang for the city and date you select. Every value is calculated for sunrise at that place, because the Hindu day begins at sunrise and not at midnight — a panchang day runs from one sunrise to the next.

Each element of the Panchang is listed with the time it starts and ends, for example Navami 5:17:10 AM – 7:03:49 AM. When a line carries a date, that moment falls on another day: elements regularly begin on the previous evening or end after midnight. Because a tithi or nakshatra rarely lasts exactly 24 hours, most days carry two of each — the one running at sunrise and its successor — and both are shown, so you can see exactly when the change-over happens.

Today's tithi

The tithi is the lunar day — the gap between the Sun and the Moon measured in steps of 12°. It is the most consulted line in aaj ka Panchang, because fasts and festivals are fixed by tithi rather than by the English date. Ekadashi, Purnima, Amavasya, Sankashti Chaturthi and Pradosh are all tithi-based. The paksha tells you whether the Moon is waxing (Shukla) or waning (Krishna).

The day is named after the tithi in force at sunrise, even when it ends soon afterwards — which is why the start and end times matter when you are fixing a vrat.

Today's nakshatra

The nakshatra is the lunar mansion the Moon is passing through, one of 27 segments of 13°20'. Today's nakshatra sets the texture of the day and is the second thing checked when picking a muhurat — for travel, for starting work, for a naming ceremony or for buying something durable.

Each nakshatra is divided into four padas of 3°20', listed separately in the Rashi & Nakshatra table. The pada matters for naming a child and for finer muhurat work, and it changes every six hours or so.

Today's yoga and karana

Yoga comes from the combined longitude of the Sun and the Moon, divided into 27 parts; some, such as Siddha and Amrita, are considered favourable, while others such as Vyatipata and Vaidhriti are avoided for new beginnings. Karana is half a tithi, so two karanas fall in every lunar day — both appear in the table with their own timings.

Today's vaar (weekday)

The vaar is the weekday and its ruling planet — Sunday the Sun, Monday the Moon, Tuesday Mars, Wednesday Mercury, Thursday Jupiter, Friday Venus and Saturday Saturn. The planet colours the whole day and is why certain tasks are traditionally kept for certain weekdays.

Auspicious timings on today's Panchang

The day and the night are each divided into fifteen muhurtas. The auspicious windows in the table are drawn from that division:

• Brahma Muhurta — the muhurta before dawn, the classical time for study, meditation and japa.
• Pratah Sandhya — the twilight ending at sunrise; Sayahna Sandhya is its counterpart after sunset. Both are reserved for sandhya-vandana and prayer.
• Abhijit — the eighth muhurta of the day, straddling midday. It clears most defects and is used when no other muhurat is available. On Wednesday it is not taken, which is why the table can read "None".
• Vijaya Muhurta — the eleventh muhurta, favoured for undertakings meant to succeed against opposition.
• Godhuli Muhurta — the "cow-dust hour" around sunset, widely used for weddings.
• Amrit Kalam — a nectar-like window derived from the running nakshatra; excellent for beginnings.
• Nishita Muhurta — the muhurta at the middle of the night, used for night worship and for Janmashtami-type observances.

Inauspicious timings on today's Panchang

Three of these are eighths of the daylight and shift with the weekday:

• Rahu Kaal — the best known; new work, journeys and purchases are avoided in this window.
• Yamaganda and Gulika Kaal — the other two weekday-driven windows, avoided for the same reasons.
• Dur Muhurtam — the day muhurtas considered inauspicious for the weekday in question.
• Varjyam — a "to be rejected" window computed from the nakshatra; the amrit kalam above is the same window twenty ghatis later.

Ongoing work is not stopped for these windows — they are avoided for starting something.

Dinamana, Ratrimana and Madhyahna

Dinamana is the length of the day from sunrise to sunset, and ratrimana the length of the night that follows. Madhyahna is the midpoint of the daylight. All the muhurtas above are fractions of these two lengths, which is why every timing shifts through the year and from city to city.

Nivas and Shool

These traditional pointers are read before travel and before ceremonies. Disha Shool is the direction to avoid travelling in on that weekday; Agnivasa, Shivavasa, Chandra Vasa and Rahu Vasa record where those forces are considered to reside; Homahuti names the graha receiving the day's oblation. Anandadi Yoga combines the weekday with the nakshatra into one of twenty-eight named results.

Why the daily Panchang differs by city

Panchang is astronomical, not administrative. Sunrise and sunset depend on your latitude and longitude, and every limb of the Panchang is read from sunrise — so the same calendar date can show a different tithi at sunrise in Delhi and in Chennai, and festival dates occasionally differ across regions for exactly this reason. Always pick your own city above before using today's Panchang for a decision.

Using today's Panchang

• Fasts and festivals — confirm the tithi at sunrise, and check when it ends, before deciding which day a vrat falls on.
• Muhurat — read the tithi, nakshatra and yoga together, take an auspicious window from the table, and make sure it does not overlap Rahu Kaal or Varjyam. For hour-by-hour slots see Choghadiya & Hora.
• Daily practice — the sunrise time and Brahma Muhurta above are the anchors for morning ritual.

New to the subject? Start with what the Panchang is and how its five limbs work.