Panchang
5 September 2026

The five angas of the day, which is what panch-ang means: the tithi (lunar day), the nakshatra the Moon is in, the yoga, the karana and the vaar (weekday). From them come the shubh and ashubh hours, the vrat and festival of the day, and the muhurat for any work you are planning.

Every time on a panchang is counted from sunrise, and sunrise in India differs by over an hour between Guwahati and Ahmedabad. Rahu Kaal, the choghadiya and Abhijit Muhurat all move with it. This page is for New Delhi; pick your own city in the box at the top.

About an hour and a half each day, a different part of the day for each weekday, when new work is traditionally not begun: a new job, a deal, a journey, a purchase. Work already under way carries on as usual.

Abhijit Muhurat, the eighth of the day’s fifteen muhurtas around midday, is good for almost any work, except on Wednesday, when it is not used. Brahma Muhurat before dawn is kept for puja and study. Where Rahu Kaal or another ashubh window overlaps a good one, use the part that is clear.

North India counts the month from Purnima to Purnima (Purnimanta), and much of south and west India from Amavasya to Amavasya (Amanta). In the Krishna paksha the north already uses the next month’s name. The tithi and the festival dates are the same either way.

The direction it is considered unlucky to set out in on a given weekday: west on Sunday and Friday, east on Monday and Saturday, north on Tuesday and Wednesday, south on Thursday. If the journey cannot wait, tradition suggests eating something before leaving: ghee or daliya on Sunday, milk on Monday, jaggery on Tuesday, coriander or sesame on Wednesday, curd on Thursday, barley on Friday, ginger or urad on Saturday.

Three things a panchang warns about. Panchak runs from the second half of Dhanishta to the end of Revati, while the Moon is in Kumbh or Meen: tradition avoids laying a roof, making a cot, gathering wood and setting out south. Bhadra is the Vishti karana: tradition keeps shubh work, rakhi, Holika Dahan and griha pravesh out of it, above all when Bhadra is on earth. Gand Mool is six nakshatras (Ashwini, Ashlesha, Magha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Revati) after whose birth a Mool shanti puja is done.

The calendar gives each date the tithi running at its sunrise, and a tithi lasts anything from about twenty to twenty-seven hours. A short one can begin after one sunrise and end before the next, so no sunrise ever sees it and its number is skipped: that is a kshaya tithi. A long one can hold two sunrises, so its number comes twice: that is a vriddhi tithi, and on its first day the panchang says it runs all day. Vrats and festivals still find their day by their own rules.

Not from the panchang alone: whether a day suits you depends on your own kundli: the Moon’s house from your rashi (chandra bala), your nakshatra’s tara bala (how today’s nakshatra stands from your birth nakshatra) and the dasha you are running. For a wedding, griha pravesh or a new business, the muhurat is chosen for your chart, not only for the day.

For the exact latitude and longitude of the city, with the Lahiri ayanamsa that Indian panchangs use, and with every change of tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana found to the minute rather than assumed to last a day. The rules are the classical muhurat texts’, Muhurta Chintamani above all: Abhijit Muhurat, the weekday’s Dur Muhurat and how much of a bad yoga to leave out come from there, and the shraddh tithi follows the aparahna as Nirnaya Sindhu sets it. Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulik Kaal, the choghadiya and disha shool are given as the printed North Indian panchangs carry them.