Reading guide
How to understand the Panchang
A Panchang is a daily calendar of the Sun, Moon and traditional time divisions for a place. The name means “five parts”: Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana and Vaar.
On panchang.now, start with the city and date, read the values at sunrise, then check their ending times. The daily windows and the live Now label answer a separate question about the time of day.
Start with the city and date
The named city determines sunrise, sunset and daily windows. Changing the city changes the Panchang; changing the clock display does not. See why location matters.
Times use a 24-hour clock. If the browser's clock differs from the city's, a switch offers city time or Local time. Local time changes the displayed clock times; the page's date and “tomorrow” labels still refer to the city's calendar. Use city time when following the example below.
The Panchang day runs from sunrise to the next sunrise. Before sunrise, today's view still shows the preceding Panchang day, with an explanatory note. The date arrows and picker open other days. See why sunrise matters.
Read the five parts at sunrise
| Dashboard row | What it describes |
|---|---|
| Tithi | The lunar day, based on the Moon's angular distance ahead of the Sun. |
| Nakshatra | Which of 27 divisions of the zodiac contains the Moon. |
| Yoga | One of 27 divisions of the combined Sun and Moon positions. |
| Karana | Half a tithi. |
| Vaar | The weekday. |
The tithi includes its Paksha: Shukla for the waxing half of the lunar cycle, Krishna for the waning half. The Lunar month row adds calendar context alongside these five parts.
A worked example: Delhi, 2 October 2026
This excerpt comes from the Panchang for that date. All times are Delhi time (IST). Sunrise is 06:14 and sunset is 18:06.
- Tithi
- Krishna Paksha Shashthiuntil 10:15, then Saptami
- Nakshatra
- Mrigashirauntil 02:53 (tomorrow), then Ardra
- Lunar month
- Bhadrapada (Amanta)Purnimanta: Ashwin
- “Until” is an ending time. Shashthi is active at sunrise. Saptami begins at 10:15 on 2 October. The sunrise row remains a record of the morning even after the transition.
- “Tomorrow” means the next calendar date. Mrigashira ends at 02:53 on 3 October, during the night belonging to this Panchang day.
- Two month names can describe the same date. Bhadrapada is the Amanta name; Ashwin is the Purnimanta name. The two calendars place the month boundary differently.
Check the daily windows
- Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika are windows the site's convention marks Avoid for new beginnings.
- Abhijit Muhurat is a short window near midday. The dashboard says “None on Wednesdays” on that weekday.
- Brahma Muhurta is a pre-dawn window. On this dashboard it belongs to the following morning, before the next sunrise.
These labels describe traditional timing conventions, not predictions about what will happen.
Read the timeline and the Now label
The strip runs from sunrise to next sunrise. Its colours show Choghadiya; hatching marks the three Avoid windows, and an underline marks Abhijit. Tapping a segment jumps to its corresponding row below.
On today's view, Now applies these rules in order:
- Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda or Gulika active: Avoid.
- Otherwise, Abhijit active: Good.
- Otherwise, use the current Choghadiya's label.
For example, at 08:00 in the Delhi example, Labh Choghadiya is Good but Gulika is active, so Now would say Avoid. The verdict explanation covers overlaps. This is a label for that moment, not the whole day.
Planetary Hora divides daylight and night into 12 parts each. Its planet labels are a separate timeline and do not set the Now verdict.
Read moonrise and moonset separately
Moonrise and moonset belong to the city's calendar date, midnight to midnight. A moonset can precede that day's moonrise. “None today” means no event falls within that date; it does not mean the Moon has disappeared.
Go beyond the labels
The reference pages list the tithi names and groups, 27 nakshatras and the Abhijit exception, Nitya Yogas, karana cycle and 12 lunar months.
How to interpret a Panchang explains traditional activity rules and follows one day through favourable windows and remaining restrictions.
See today's Panchang for Delhi, or select another city on the home page.