Today's Panchang: 3 November 2026

Last updated 3 November 2026

What is a Panchang?

A Panchang (Panchanga, "five limbs") is the Hindu almanac for one day at one place. Its five limbs are the tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana. Families use it to pick a day for a wedding, a griha pravesh or a new venture, to know when a fast or festival falls, and to avoid Rahu Kaal.

The five limbs

• Tithi: the lunar day. Each tithi is 12° of the Moon moving ahead of the Sun, so a month has 30: 15 in the bright half (Shukla Paksha, ending at Purnima) and 15 in the dark half (Krishna Paksha, ending at Amavasya).
• Vara: the weekday, counted from sunrise to sunrise and named after its planet.
• Nakshatra: which of the 27 nakshatras the Moon is in.
• Yoga: the Sun's and Moon's positions added together, in 27 parts of 13°20′.
• Karana: half a tithi; eleven karanas repeat through the month. Vishti, also called Bhadra, is avoided for new beginnings.

Each limb is given as it stands at local sunrise, with the time it ends. A limb that ends before the next sunrise is followed by the one that takes over.

Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika

The daytime, sunrise to sunset, is cut into eight equal parts. On each weekday one part is Rahu Kaal, one Yamaganda and one Gulika Kaal, and tradition avoids starting anything important in them. Because they are parts of the actual daytime, they move with the season and the city: they are never fixed clock hours.

Abhijit and Brahma Muhurta

Abhijit Muhurta is the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of the day, around local noon, and is treated as auspicious for most work (traditionally not on Wednesdays). Brahma Muhurta is the two muhurtas before sunrise, measured from the night's own length, and is valued for meditation and study.

Amanta and Purnimanta months

South and West India mostly end the lunar month at Amavasya (Amanta); North India mostly ends it at Purnima (Purnimanta). In the bright half both name the month the same; in the dark half the Purnimanta month is already the next one. The page shows both.

How this Panchang is calculated

Every value is worked out for the date and city you choose, from the Swiss Ephemeris with the Lahiri ayanamsa. Sunrise and sunset are when the Sun's upper edge meets the horizon, with normal atmospheric refraction, the convention most almanacs use; a Panchang that measures from the Sun's centre can differ by about a minute.

Sources

• Surya Siddhanta: the classical definitions of tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana.
• Rama Daivajna, Muhurta Chintamani: the use of the limbs, Rahu Kaal and the muhurtas in choosing a time.
• Planet positions: the Swiss Ephemeris (Astrodienst), with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa adopted by the Calendar Reform Committee, Government of India, 1955.

Questions people ask