The five parts of the panchang: tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana

Panchang means five limbs. It is the Indian daily almanac, and every muhurat, festival date and fast is chosen from it. Once you know the five parts, a panchang stops looking like a wall of numbers.

Tithi

A tithi is a lunar day. It is the time the Moon takes to gain 12 degrees on the Sun. There are 30 tithis in a month, 15 in the waxing half (Shukla Paksha) and 15 in the waning half (Krishna Paksha). Tithis can start and end at any hour, so a tithi may overlap two calendar days.

Vara

The weekday. Each of the seven days is ruled by a planet, from Sunday for the Sun to Saturday for Saturn. The day itself begins at sunrise in the panchang, not midnight.

Nakshatra

The star group the Moon is in on that day. There are 27, and each is about 13 degrees and 20 minutes wide. It sets the day’s mood and is used to choose activities.

Yoga

Add the longitudes of the Sun and Moon and divide the sum into 27 equal parts. Each part is a yoga, such as Siddhi or Vyatipata. Some yogas are considered helpful and some are avoided.

Karana

A karana is half a tithi, so there are 60 in a lunar month. Eleven named karanas fill the cycle, and Vishti, also called Bhadra, is the one usually avoided.

Local details

A good daily panchang also gives sunrise, sunset, moonrise, Rahu Kaal and Abhijit Muhurat. All of these depend on your city, so use a panchang made for your location and not one printed for another town.

For any important date, check tithi, nakshatra and Rahu Kaal first. If all three are fine, the day is usually acceptable.