Panchanga: the five limbs of a day

What is in the Hindu almanac, and what do the words mean?

The panchanga ("five limbs") is the traditional calendar. It describes every day by five measures, all worked out from the Sun and the Moon. It is used to choose good times and to fix the dates of festivals.

Limb	What it is	How many
1. Tithi	The lunar day: every 12° the Moon moves ahead of the Sun	30 in a lunar month
2. Vara	The weekday, counted from sunrise to sunrise and ruled by its planet	7
3. Nakshatra	The nakshatra the Moon is in	27
4. Yoga	The Sun's and Moon's longitudes added together, in steps of 13°20′	27
5. Karana	Half a tithi (every 6°)	11 kinds, 60 a month

Tithis and the fortnights

The lunar month has two fortnights (paksha): Shukla paksha, the bright, waxing half, from new moon to full moon (Purnima), and Krishna paksha, the dark, waning half, back to new moon (Amavasya). Each half has fifteen tithis, from Pratipada (1st) and Dwitiya (2nd) through Ekadashi (11th) to Chaturdashi (14th) and the full or new moon. Tithis fall into five groups that repeat: Nanda (1, 6, 11: joy), Bhadra (2, 7, 12: health), Jaya (3, 8, 13: victory), Rikta (4, 9, 14: "empty", avoided for beginnings) and Purna (5, 10, 15: fullness).

Yogas and karanas

The 27 panchanga yogas (not the same as chart yogas) run from Vishkambha to Vaidhriti; two of them, Vyatipata and Vaidhriti, are avoided for new starts. Of the eleven karanas, seven repeat through the month (Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija and Vishti) and four occur once (Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga, Kimstughna). Vishti, also called Bhadra, is avoided for auspicious work.

Months and the solar year

Lunar months are named after the nakshatra near the full Moon: Chaitra, Vaishakha, Jyeshtha, Ashadha, Shravana, Bhadrapada, Ashwin, Kartika, Margashirsha, Pausha, Magha, Phalguna.
In amanta calendars (much of south and west India) a month ends at new moon; in purnimanta calendars (much of the north) it ends at full moon. That is why the same festival can fall in "different" months.
Sankranti is the Sun entering a new sign; Makar Sankranti (around 14 January) is the best known.
Adhik Maas: twelve lunar months are about 11 days short of a solar year, so roughly every 32½ months a lunar month with no Sankranti in it is counted twice as an extra month.

the date on a calendar, but with five readings instead of one, like a weather report giving temperature, wind, rain, humidity and air quality.

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