How to Read Panchang: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

To read a Panchang, first check that it is calculated for your city, then note the sunrise, because the Hindu day begins there. Next, read the five limbs in order (vara, tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana), each with the time it ends, and finish with the day’s timings, such as Abhijit muhurat and Rahu Kaal, and the month line that gives the paksha, masa and samvat.

What a Panchang is, and why your city matters

A Panchang (from pancha, five, and anga, limb) is the Hindu almanac. It describes each day through five measurements of the Sun and Moon, and families use it to time festivals, fasts, ceremonies and everyday beginnings.

Most of a Panchang is about the Moon. Its distance from the Sun gives the tithi; its place among the stars gives the nakshatra. These moments are the same everywhere on Earth: a tithi ends at the same instant in Delhi and in Dallas. The clock time is different, though, and so is sunrise.

That is why a Panchang printed for Varanasi can mislead a family in Bengaluru, and why families abroad should always use one set to their own city. Indian almanacs measure the zodiac against the fixed stars, using the Lahiri ayanamsa adopted for the national calendar. Small differences between almanacs usually come from sunrise conventions or regional month names, both covered below.

Step 1: Check the place, the date and the sunrise

Start at the top: the city, the date, and the times of sunrise and sunset. In the Vedic reckoning the day runs from one sunrise to the next, not from midnight to midnight.

This has two practical effects. First, whatever is running at sunrise (the udaya tithi and nakshatra) gives the day its name, and that is usually the tithi used for fasts such as Ekadashi. Second, the small hours after midnight still belong to the previous Panchang day. If a tithi ends in the early hours, that change sits inside today’s Panchang, not tomorrow’s.

Our Panchang takes sunrise as the moment the upper edge of the Sun appears on the horizon, the convention most modern Indian almanacs follow. A few traditional almanacs use the centre of the Sun’s disc instead, which moves the times by a minute or two. Every other sun-based window of the day, such as Rahu Kaal, choghadiya and hora, is measured from sunrise.

Step 2: Read the five limbs

The five limbs are the heart of the page. Each measures the Sun and Moon in a different way, and each changes at its own pace.

Tithi: the lunar day

A tithi is the time the Moon takes to gain 12° on the Sun. There are fifteen in the bright half, Shukla paksha, ending with Purnima (full moon), and fifteen in the dark half, Krishna paksha, ending with Amavasya (new moon). The names repeat (Pratipada, Dwitiya, Tritiya and so on), so always read the paksha together with the name.

Because the Moon’s speed varies, so does the length of a tithi. Now and then a tithi begins after one sunrise and ends before the next, so it never “owns” a sunrise; almanacs call it kshaya (lost). The opposite, a tithi that spans two sunrises, is vriddhi (extra). When a tithi changes during the day, our Panchang shows the next one on a “then” line with its own end time.

Nakshatra: the Moon’s star

The nakshatra is the stretch of sky the Moon is crossing. Each of the 27 has a ruling planet, a presiding deity and a nature: fixed, movable, gentle, sharp and so on. That is why nakshatras matter most when choosing a muhurat and when picking the first syllable of a baby’s name. Each nakshatra is further split into four padas, or quarters, and our Panchang lists the Moon’s pada with the time each one ends.

Yoga and karana: the finer limbs

The Panchang yoga adds the longitudes of the Sun and Moon and divides the total into 27 parts, from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti. Nine of them (Vishkambha, Atiganda, Shula, Ganda, Vyaghata, Vajra, Vyatipata, Parigha and Vaidhriti) are traditionally avoided for beginnings, and our Panchang marks them with an “avoid” tag.

A karana is half a tithi. Seven movable karanas repeat through the month, and four fixed ones appear around the new moon. The one to notice is Vishti, better known as Bhadra, which tradition avoids for auspicious work; our Panchang lists its exact times among the day’s inauspicious periods.

Step 3: Read the day’s timings

Below the limbs, a Panchang lists windows of time. Some are favourable and some are best avoided for new beginnings. None is a reason for worry; they are simply tools for choosing a good moment.

For most families, two checks cover daily needs: begin important things outside Rahu Kaal, and if possible inside a good choghadiya or Abhijit muhurat.

Step 4: Read the month line

Near the top of most almanacs is a line such as “Chaitra Shukla Panchami”, often followed by the year. It packs in several more facts.

Masa is the lunar month. Most of South and West India follows the Amanta system, in which a month ends at the new moon; most of North India follows Purnimanta, in which it ends at the full moon. The bright fortnight has the same name in both, but in Amanta and Purnimanta reckoning the dark fortnight is named differently. That is why Maha Shivaratri falls in Magha Krishna paksha in a Maharashtrian calendar and in Phalguna Krishna paksha in a North Indian one: the same night with two labels.

Paksha tells you whether the Moon is waxing (Shukla) or waning (Krishna).

Samvat is the year. Vikram Samvat runs about 57 years ahead of the Common Era and, in most of North India, turns over at Chaitra Shukla Pratipada; in Gujarat it turns over the day after Diwali. Shaka Samvat, used by the national calendar, runs 78 years behind the Common Era.

Ritu and ayana give the season (six ritus of two months each, from Vasanta in spring to Shishira in late winter) and the Sun’s half-year: Uttarayana from Makar Sankranti, Dakshinayana from Karka Sankranti, though some traditions count the two halves from the solstices instead. Our Panchang shows both versions: the Vedic ritu from the lunar month beside the seasonal one from the Sun, and the ayana from Makar Sankranti beside the one from the solstice.

A worked example

Here is how to read a typical day. Suppose your Panchang shows the entries below. Clock times are left out, because they depend on your city.

Reading it: the Moon is waxing, which tradition prefers for beginnings. Panchami is a purna (full) tithi, and Shashthi suits many tasks. Rohini is a fixed, nourishing star, and Saubhagya, meaning good fortune, is not one of the yogas to avoid. Neither karana is Vishti.

Then check the timings. On a Thursday, Rahu Kaal is the sixth eighth of the day, in the early afternoon, and Yamaganda the first, just after sunrise, so a mid-morning start, or Abhijit around midday, keeps clear of both. For something major, such as a griha pravesh, you would still look for a full muhurat. As an ordinary day for a beginning, though, this one reads well.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Using another city’s Panchang. A few hundred kilometres can move sunrise, Rahu Kaal and choghadiya by many minutes, and a different country can move a fast or festival to another date.
• Assuming the day changes at midnight. The Panchang day changes at sunrise.
• Reading only the first line. Tithis and nakshatras often change during the day; the “then” line tells you what follows and when.
• Mixing month systems. Check whether your family follows Amanta or Purnimanta before matching a festival to a month name.
• Confusing the two kinds of yoga. The Panchang yoga is a daily Sun–Moon measure; the yogas in a Kundli are planetary combinations in a birth chart.

When you are ready, check today’s Panchang for your city. It is free, works for any date, and shows every limb with its end time alongside sunrise and moonrise, Rahu Kaal, Abhijit, Amrit Kalam, Varjyam, Bhadra, choghadiya and hora, all in your local time.