How to Read a Panchang: The Five Limbs Explained
Tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana: a beginner's guide to the five limbs of the Hindu panchang and how to use them to choose a good day.
Panchang comes from the Sanskrit pancha (five) and anga (limb). A panchang is a daily almanac built on five elements of time. Learn these five and you can read any panchang, from a printed calendar on the kitchen wall to our live daily panchang.
1. Tithi: the lunar day
The tithi is the Moon's 12° steps away from the Sun, 30 per lunar month. It is the most important limb because nearly every festival and vrat is fixed by tithi. Read the full explanation in What is a tithi?
How to read it: "Krishna Tritiya upto 01:07 AM" means the third tithi of the waning fortnight is running and will end at 1:07 a.m.
2. Vara: the weekday
Vara is the weekday, counted from sunrise to sunrise, not midnight to midnight. Each is ruled by a planet: Ravivara (Sun), Somavara (Moon), Mangalavara (Mars), Budhavara (Mercury), Guruvara (Jupiter), Shukravara (Venus) and Shanivara (Saturn). Vara determines Rahu Kaal and many weekday-specific vrats, like Monday fasts for Shiva.
3. Nakshatra: the lunar mansion
The sky along the Moon's path is divided into 27 nakshatras of 13°20' each, starting from Ashwini. The nakshatra is the one the Moon occupies. The Moon spends roughly a day in each.
Nakshatras matter for naming ceremonies, weddings, travel and much of Vedic astrology. Some, like Pushya, Rohini and the three Uttaras, are especially auspicious for beginnings. Nakshatra positions use the sidereal zodiac, which on this site is computed with the Lahiri ayanamsa.
4. Yoga: the luni-solar combination
Yoga here is not the exercise. It is the sum of the sidereal longitudes of the Sun and Moon, divided into 27 parts of 13°20'. The 27 yogas run from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti. Most are favourable, but Vyatipata and Vaidhriti in particular are avoided for auspicious work.
5. Karana: half a tithi
Each tithi is split into two karanas, giving 60 per lunar month. There are 11 karanas: seven movable ones that repeat (Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Garaja, Vanija and Vishti) and four fixed ones (Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga and Kimstughna) that occur once a month around the new moon.
The karana to know is Vishti, also called Bhadra. It is considered inauspicious for starting new things, and festivals like Raksha Bandhan and Holika Dahan are timed to avoid it.
Beyond the five limbs
A modern panchang also lists:
- Sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset for your location
- Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika, the inauspicious windows (see our guide)
- Abhijit and Brahma Muhurat, the auspicious windows
- Masa, paksha, ritu, ayana and samvat: lunar month, fortnight, season, half-year and era (Vikram and Shaka)
- Sun and Moon signs (rashi)
Putting it together: choosing a good day
For an important beginning, astrologers look for:
- A favourable tithi (avoid Rikta tithis 4, 9 and 14, and Amavasya)
- A suitable weekday for the task
- An auspicious nakshatra
- A good yoga, avoiding Vyatipata and Vaidhriti
- A karana other than Vishti (Bhadra)
- A time outside Rahu Kaal, preferably in Abhijit Muhurat
For weddings and griha pravesh, a qualified astrologer will also check the individual horoscopes (you can generate yours with the SpiritualMarg kundli and read your daily rashifal). For daily decisions, the panchang for your city gives you everything above at a glance.