Muhurta — Choosing a Time

Tarabala, Chandrabala & What to Avoid

Making a muhurta personal, and the daily windows nobody elects.

Tarabala — the day's star against yours

A panchanga describes a day for everybody. Tarabala makes it personal.

Count from a person's birth nakshatra to the day's nakshatra, and take the remainder on division by 9. That gives one of nine taras:

| # | Tara | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Janma | Sensitive — one's own star |
| 2 | Sampat | Favourable — wealth |
| 3 | Vipat | Unfavourable — danger |
| 4 | Kshema | Favourable — well-being |
| 5 | Pratyak | Unfavourable — obstruction |
| 6 | Sadhana | Favourable — accomplishment |
| 7 | Naidhana | Unfavourable — the worst |
| 8 | Mitra | Favourable — friend |
| 9 | Parama Mitra | Favourable — best friend |

Five favourable (2, 4, 6, 8, 9), three unfavourable (3, 5, 7), and Janma treated as sensitive rather than malefic — it is your own star, which is a different thing from a hostile one.

Chandrabala — the Moon against your Moon

Chandrabala (strength of the Moon) asks where the transiting Moon sits relative to the person's natal Moon.

The transiting Moon's house from the natal Moon carries the usual gochara character: some positions support an undertaking and some don't, with the 4th, 8th and 12th from the natal Moon the ones conventionally avoided.

Because the Moon changes sign every 2¼ days, chandrabala is a fast-moving filter. It rarely rules out a whole week, but it very often decides between two otherwise similar days — which makes it one of the more practically decisive checks.

Rahu Kalam and the daily eighths

Some windows are avoided every single day, regardless of everything else. The best known is Rahu Kalam.

Divide the time from sunrise to sunset into eight equal parts. Which part is Rahu Kalam depends only on the weekday:

| Day | Part |
|---|---|
| Sunday | 8th |
| Monday | 2nd |
| Tuesday | 7th |
| Wednesday | 5th |
| Thursday | 6th |
| Friday | 4th |
| Saturday | 3rd |

Because it is computed from actual sunrise and sunset, its clock time shifts through the year and by location — it is not a fixed 90 minutes at a fixed hour, though it is often published as if it were.

Yamaganda and Gulika Kalam work the same way on different parts. Nothing is begun in these windows.

Order of operations

A workable sequence, cheapest filters first:

1. Rule out the forbidden — Rahu Kalam and its companions, Vishti karana, the excluded yogas.
2. Apply the activity's ruleset — which nakshatras, tithis and weekdays suit this undertaking.
3. Check tarabala for the principal person (for a wedding, conventionally the bride).
4. Check chandrabala to separate the remaining candidates.
5. Check the lagna of the elected moment — the rising sign at that instant, which is the enterprise's own ascendant.

Each step narrows the field. Start with the exclusions and you spend far less effort.

Remember it

Nine taras: 3, 5 and 7 are the bad ones; Janma is just sensitive. Rahu Kalam is an eighth of daylight, fixed by weekday. Exclude first, then narrow.

Terms introduced here

Tarabala

The nine taras counted from a person's birth star to the day's star — five favourable, three unfavourable, one sensitive.

Chandrabala

The Moon's transit position relative to the natal Moon — some houses support an undertaking and some don't.

Periods to avoid

Rahu Kalam and the other daily inauspicious eighths — fixed by weekday, computed from sunrise and sunset.

Rules per activity

Each kind of undertaking has its own ruleset; a good day for travel is not automatically a good day for a wedding.