Panchang
How to read a Panchang: the five limbs of the Hindu day
Tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana: what each limb of the Panchang measures, why the Hindu day begins at sunrise, and how to read them together.
Before a wedding date is fixed, a fast is kept or a festival begins, many Indian families open the Panchang. The word means “five limbs”, and each limb measures the sky in a different way. Together they describe the quality of a day, not just its date.
Here is what each limb means, and how to read them together.
The day begins at sunrise
Unlike the civil calendar, the Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next. The weekday, and the tithi that names the day, are the ones in force at sunrise where you are. That is why a Panchang always begins with the time of sunrise, and why two cities can keep the same festival on different civil dates.
Tithi: the lunar day
A tithi is the time the Moon takes to move twelve degrees ahead of the Sun. Thirty tithis make a lunar month: fifteen in the bright half, Shukla paksha, from Pratipada to Purnima, the full moon, and fifteen in the dark half, Krishna paksha, from Pratipada to Amavasya, the new moon.
Because the Moon’s speed changes, a tithi can last anywhere from about nineteen to twenty-six hours, so a tithi can begin at any hour of the day or night. Many observances are tied to a tithi: the Ekadashi fasts, Chaturthi for Ganesha, Purnima and Amavasya.
Vara: the weekday
Each of the seven days is ruled by a graha, and the names say so:
- Ravivara: Sunday, the Sun
- Somavara: Monday, the Moon
- Mangalavara: Tuesday, Mars
- Budhavara: Wednesday, Mercury
- Guruvara: Thursday, Jupiter
- Shukravara: Friday, Venus
- Shanivara: Saturday, Saturn
The ruling graha colours the day in the tradition, which is why many people keep a Monday fast for Shiva or visit a Hanuman temple on a Saturday.
Nakshatra: the Moon’s star
The Moon passes through the twenty-seven nakshatras about once a month, spending roughly a day in each. The day’s nakshatra is the one the Moon occupies. It matters for choosing a muhurta and for naming ceremonies, and some festivals are fixed by it: Onam, for example, is kept on the day of Thiruvonam, the nakshatra known elsewhere as Shravana.
Yoga: the Sun and the Moon together
The yoga is found by adding the longitudes of the Sun and the Moon and dividing the total into twenty-seven parts of 13°20′ each. Every part has a name, from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti. Most are considered favourable or neutral; a few, such as Vyatipata and Vaidhriti, are traditionally avoided for new beginnings.
Karana: half a tithi
Each tithi divides into two karanas, so there are sixty in a lunar month, drawn from eleven names. Seven of them repeat through the month: Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija and Vishti. The other four appear once each, around the new moon: Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga and Kimstughna.
Vishti, also called Bhadra, is traditionally avoided for starting anything new.
Reading the five together
No single limb makes a day good or bad. A priest or an astrologer weighs them together, with the purpose in mind: a day that suits a journey may not suit a housewarming.
Regional calendars also differ. In much of North India the lunar month ends at the full moon (purnimanta); in the South and the West it ends at the new moon (amanta). The same day can therefore carry a different month name in two calendars, while the tithi itself is the same.
Using Stella’s Panchang
Choose a date and a place, and Stella calculates the Panchang for that location: sunrise and sunset, moonrise and moonset, the vara, and every tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana that touches the day, each with its start and end to the second. The positions come from the Swiss Ephemeris, with the settings of Jagannatha Hora.
This article is general information about the traditions of Indian astrology, written by Stella Editorial. It is not a personal reading, a prediction or professional advice. For guidance on your own chart, talk to an astrologer.
