Question 1

What is a panchangam?

Accepted Answer

A panchangam is the daily Vedic almanac. The word 'pancha-anga' means 'five limbs': tithi (lunar day), nakshatra (lunar mansion), yoga, karana, and vaara (weekday). It also tracks sunrise and sunset, the inauspicious windows (Rahu Kalam, Yamagandam, Gulika Kalam), and the auspicious muhurtas (Abhijit, Amrita, Brahma). Astrovene's Panchangam mode renders all of this for any date and place.

Question 2

What is Rahu Kalam and should I avoid it?

Accepted Answer

Rahu Kalam is a roughly ninety-minute window each day, traditionally considered inauspicious for beginning anything new. Its timing depends on the weekday and on the actual sunrise and sunset at your location, so it shifts through the day across the week and differs between cities. Custom avoids starting journeys, signing agreements or beginning ceremonies during it; ongoing work is not considered affected.

Question 3

What is a tithi?

Accepted Answer

A tithi is a lunar day: the time it takes the Moon to gain twelve degrees of longitude on the Sun. Because that motion is not uniform, a tithi is not twenty-four hours; it can run from about nineteen to about twenty-six. There are thirty in a lunar month, fifteen in the waxing fortnight (shukla paksha) and fifteen in the waning (krishna paksha). Most Hindu festivals are fixed to a tithi rather than to a calendar date.

Astrovene

Today's Panchangam · Tithi, Nakshatra, Rahu Kalam · Astrovene