Muhurta — Choosing a Time

The Panchanga in Depth

The five limbs of a day, and why sunrise decides everything.

The five, properly

Pancha five, anga limb. Foundations introduced these; here is what each is actually made of.

Tithi — the lunar day. One tithi is 12° of separation between the Moon and the Sun. Thirty per lunar month, fifteen per paksha.

Vaara — the weekday, each ruled by a graha: Sunday the Sun, Monday the Moon, Tuesday Mars, Wednesday Mercury, Thursday Jupiter, Friday Venus, Saturday Saturn.

Nakshatra — the Moon's birth star for that day.

Yoga — the sum of the Sun's and Moon's longitudes, divided into 27 named parts (Vishkambha through Vaidhriti). Not to be confused with the planetary yogas from that chapter — same word, different thing.

Karana — half a tithi, so 6° of Sun–Moon separation. Sixty per lunar month.

The day runs sunrise to sunrise

A vedic day begins at local sunrise and runs to the next one. Midnight has no meaning in this system.

Two consequences, both practical:

A panchanga is location-specific. Sunrise differs by place, so the same calendar date has different limb values in Chennai and in London. A panchanga without a location attached is incomplete.

The limbs change mid-day. A tithi is not a calendar day — it is however long the Moon takes to gain 12° on the Sun, which varies from about 20 to 26 hours. So a day is usually named for the tithi prevailing at sunrise, while a different one may take over by afternoon. For a muhurta you need the value at the actual elected moment, not the day's headline value.

Which limbs carry the most weight

They are not equal. For most elections the ranking is:

Nakshatra first — the single most consulted limb, and the one most activity rulesets are built around.

Tithi second — several are avoided outright, and specific tithis suit specific activities.

Vaara third — the weekday lord should suit the undertaking. Thursday (Jupiter) for anything wanting growth or blessing; Tuesday (Mars) generally avoided for peaceful undertakings.

Yoga and karana last — mostly used to exclude. A handful of yogas (Vyatipata, Vaidhriti, Parigha among them) are avoided, and the karana Vishti (also called Bhadra) is the one everyone avoids.

Remember it

Tithi is 12° of Moon minus Sun; karana is half of that; yoga is Moon plus Sun; vaara is the weekday; nakshatra is the Moon's star. Nakshatra leads, yoga and karana mostly rule things out — and everything is anchored to local sunrise.

Terms introduced here

The five limbs

Tithi, vaara, nakshatra, yoga and karana — the five components of a day, all anchored to sunrise.

The day runs sunrise to sunrise

A vedic day begins at local sunrise, so a panchanga is location-specific and midnight means nothing to it.