How to Read a Panchang: Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana

The panchang is the backbone of Hindu timekeeping. Before fixing the time for anything of consequence, a pandit consults it first. Many people take it for a calendar. It is better understood as an instrument for measuring the quality of time.

The word is made of two parts. Pancha means five and anga means limb. The five limbs are tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana. The character of a day comes from how these five combine, not from any one of them alone.

1. Tithi

A tithi is formed by the angular separation between the Moon and the Sun. Each time that separation increases by twelve degrees, one tithi is complete. There are thirty in a lunar month, fifteen in the waxing fortnight and fifteen in the waning.

What matters practically is that a tithi is not a fixed length. It can run anywhere from nineteen to twenty six hours, because the Moon does not move at a constant speed. This is why a tithi is sometimes skipped and sometimes repeated across two days.

The rikta tithis, being the fourth, ninth and fourteenth, are generally avoided for new undertakings. Amavasya suits rites for the ancestors and Purnima suits worship of the deities.

2. Vara

Vara is the weekday, and in this system it runs from sunrise to sunrise rather than from midnight. Something done at eleven at night still belongs to the day whose sunrise has passed. Each weekday has a ruling planet, and activities are matched to it: Monday to the Moon, Tuesday to Mars, Wednesday to Mercury, Thursday to Jupiter, Friday to Venus, Saturday to Saturn and Sunday to the Sun.

3. Nakshatra

The sky is divided into twenty seven parts, and whichever one the Moon occupies is the nakshatra of that moment. The Moon crosses one in roughly a day and a quarter.

For choosing a time, the nakshatra carries the most weight. Rohini, Mrigashira, Pushya, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Swati, Anuradha, Uttara Ashadha and Revati are considered highly favourable. Pushya is called the king of nakshatras and is particularly favoured for purchases. Bharani, Krittika, Ardra, Ashlesha, Magha, Jyeshtha and Mula are generally avoided for new beginnings.

4. Yoga

Yoga is derived from the sum of the longitudes of the Sun and the Moon. There are twenty seven, of which nine are considered unfavourable, including Vishkumbha, Atiganda, Shula, Ganda, Vyaghata, Vajra, Vyatipata, Parigha and Vaidhriti. Siddhi, Shubha, Sadhya, Shiva, Siddha and Variyan are the favourable ones.

5. Karana

A karana is half a tithi, so there are two in each and sixty in a lunar month. Eleven karanas exist, of which seven are movable and four fixed. Vishti, also called Bhadra, is the one most often avoided.

Reading it in practice

Start with the tithi and check whether it is rikta. Then look at the nakshatra, which is where the strongest indication lies. Confirm with the yoga and karana. Finally check the weekday and whether its ruling planet suits what you intend to do.

Alongside these, note Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika Kaal, the segments of the day in which new work is not begun.

One necessary warning

A panchang is specific to a place. The panchang for Delhi does not apply exactly in Patna, because sunrise differs and with it the start and end times of every tithi and nakshatra. For families abroad the difference is larger still.

If you are fixing the time for something that matters, have it calculated for the latitude and longitude of where you actually are. Most general purpose apps do not make that adjustment.