Draft. This lesson is being reviewed and may change before publication.
Lesson 19 of 20 · Timing and matching
Reading the panchang: tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga, karana
The five limbs of the Hindu almanac, how each comes from the Sun and Moon, why they are taken at sunrise, and how to read a day's panchang. Lesson 19.
Written by Khushal ThakkarReviewed by Review pendingUpdated October 29, 2026
The panchang, "five limbs", is the Hindu almanac that names each day by five quantities derived from the Sun and the Moon: the weekday, the lunar day, the Moon's star, the Sun-Moon yoga and the half-tithi called karana. Every festival date, every muhurta and every personal timing in the tradition is read from it, and the Panchang calculator builds it for any place and date.
The five limbs
| Limb | Computed from | Count | Typical length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vara | The weekday | 7 | 1 day |
| Tithi | Moon's longitude minus the Sun's, ÷ 12° | 30 | about 24 hours |
| Nakshatra | Moon's sidereal longitude ÷ 13°20′ | 27 | about 24 hours |
| Yoga | Sum of the Sun's and Moon's sidereal longitudes ÷ 13°20′ | 27 | about 24 hours |
| Karana | Half a tithi (÷ 6°) | 11 names over 60 halves | about 12 hours |
Each is taken at sunrise, because the Hindu day runs from sunrise to sunrise, and each is given with the time it ends.
Tithi
The Moon gains 12° on the Sun for each tithi: tithi 1, Pratipada, begins at the new Moon when the gap is 0°, and Purnima, the 15th, ends when it reaches 180°. The next fifteen, the Krishna paksha, run back to Amavasya at 360°. Because the Moon's speed varies, tithis vary in length, which is why the calendar sometimes skips or doubles one.
Nakshatra and yoga
The nakshatra is the Moon's star (lesson 5), the same quantity used for the birth star, so the day's nakshatra is the star that anyone born that day has. The yoga adds the Sun's and the Moon's sidereal longitudes and divides the sum by 13°20′, giving 27 names from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti; a few (Vyatipata, Vaidhriti, Vyaghata) are avoided for beginnings.
Karana
A karana is half a tithi. Seven movable karanas (Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Garaja, Vanija, Vishti) cycle eight times through the month, and four fixed ones (Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga, Kimstughna) take the last three halves and the first. Vishti, also called Bhadra, is the one the tradition avoids for starting work.
Worked example
29 October 2026 in Mumbai, a Thursday: sunrise 06:37, Krishna Chaturthi until 22:10, Rohini until 11:11 then Mrigashira, the yoga Parigha until just after midnight, karana Bava until 11:37 then Balava. Diwali that year, 8 November, shows Amavasya in the tithi row: the panchang is how festival dates are fixed.
Calculate yours
Try the calculator this lesson explains.