How to Read a Panchang
A Panchang (from Sanskrit pancha, five, and anga, limb) is the traditional Hindu almanac. Families use it to find festival dates, fasting days and auspicious times for puja, travel or a new venture. At first glance a Panchang page looks like a wall of unfamiliar terms. Once you know the five limbs and a few time windows, it reads easily.
The five limbs
1. Tithi (lunar day)
A tithi is the time it takes for the Moon to move 12 degrees ahead of the Sun. There are 30 tithis in a lunar month: 15 in Shukla Paksha (the waxing fortnight, ending at Purnima, the full moon) and 15 in Krishna Paksha (the waning fortnight, ending at Amavasya, the new moon).
Because the Moon's speed varies, a tithi can be shorter or longer than a solar day, and it rarely begins at sunrise. A Panchang usually lists the tithi prevailing at sunrise and the time it ends. That's why Ekadashi or a festival can fall on different dates in different listings.
2. Vara (weekday)
The seven weekdays, each traditionally associated with a planet: Ravivara (Sunday, Sun), Somavara (Monday, Moon), Mangalavara (Tuesday, Mars), Budhavara (Wednesday, Mercury), Guruvara (Thursday, Jupiter), Shukravara (Friday, Venus) and Shanivara (Saturday, Saturn). In the Panchang, the day runs from sunrise to sunrise, not midnight to midnight.
3. Nakshatra (lunar mansion)
The sky along the Moon's path is divided into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′ each, from Ashwini to Revati. The Panchang tells you which nakshatra the Moon is in and when it moves to the next. Nakshatras matter for naming ceremonies, muhurta selection and some festivals.
4. Yoga
Here yoga is a calculated value, not the exercise. It comes from adding the longitudes of the Sun and Moon and dividing the circle into 27 parts, each with a name (Vishkambha, Priti, Ayushman and so on). Some are traditionally considered auspicious, others not.
5. Karana
A karana is half a tithi, so there are 60 in a lunar month, drawn from 11 named karanas. Vishti (also called Bhadra) is the one most often avoided for starting important work.
Daily time windows
Most Panchangs also list special periods for each day:
- Rahu Kaal: about one-eighth of the daytime (sunrise to sunset), at a different position on each weekday. Many people avoid starting new work during it.
- Gulika Kaal and Yamagandam: two other daily periods calculated the same way and traditionally avoided for new beginnings.
- Abhijit Muhurta: a window around local midday, the eighth of the fifteen daytime muhurtas, considered auspicious for most activities.
Why your location changes everything
Every one of these timings depends on local sunrise and sunset. Rahu Kaal in Mumbai is not Rahu Kaal in London or Toronto; even within India, Kolkata and Ahmedabad differ by a large margin. Tithi and nakshatra transitions happen at the same moment worldwide, but the local clock time, and which tithi is "prevailing at sunrise", changes with your time zone.
If you live outside India, make sure the Panchang you use is calculated for your city, or at least your time zone. A printed calendar from home will be wrong for you.
Reading today's Panchang in four steps
- Find today's tithi and paksha. Is it Shukla or Krishna? Is an Ekadashi, Pradosh, Purnima or Amavasya coming up?
- Check the nakshatra if you're planning a ceremony.
- Note Rahu Kaal (and Gulika and Yamagandam) for your city before scheduling something important.
- Look ahead at the festival list so you can prepare fasts and pujas in time.
Keeping it on your phone
Many devotees, especially those living far from family or from India, now keep a Panchang on their phone alongside the texts they recite.
Panchang, texts and live darshan together: Mandir Darshan (free, by the author of this guide) shows today's Panchang (tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana, sunrise and sunset), Rahu Kaal, Gulika Kaal, Yamagandam and Abhijit Muhurta, with a date picker and an upcoming-festivals list. It also streams live darshan from temples across India with aarti reminders, and includes the Bhagavad Gita, chalisas, aartis and a japa counter, in English and Hindi, without signing in.
A note on traditions
Panchang conventions vary by region. Some calendars are amanta (months end at the new moon, common in the south and west), others purnimanta (months end at the full moon, common in the north), and festival dates can differ as a result. When in doubt, follow the practice of your family or your local temple.