Today in Jyotish

Today’s panchang and planets

The five limbs of the day (tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vara) with their end times, the auspicious and inauspicious periods, and the position of every planet: calculated for your city, from sunrise to sunrise. For the year ahead, see the festival calendar 2027.

How to read the panchang

Tithi is the lunar day: each 12° the Moon gains on the Sun. There are 30 in a lunar month, 15 in the bright half (shukla paksha) up to the full moon and 15 in the dark half (krishna paksha) to the new moon. The tithi at sunrise names the day; festivals and fasts are fixed by it.

Nakshatra is the Moon’s lunar mansion, one of 27. Yoga is the sum of the Sun’s and Moon’s longitudes, divided into 27. Karana is half a tithi; Vishti (Bhadra) is the karana avoided for new work. Vara is the weekday, counted from sunrise to sunrise.

Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika are fixed eighths of the daytime, different for each weekday, traditionally avoided for starting anything important. Abhijit muhurta is the eighth of the day’s fifteen muhurtas, around local noon, regarded as auspicious. Choghadiya divides the day and night into eight parts each, used especially for travel and business.

How we calculate it

Sunrise and sunset are for the upper edge of the Sun, with standard atmospheric refraction; moonrise and moonset for the Moon’s centre. Positions are sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa. Our tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana times agree with Drik Panchang to within a minute.