What is Paksha?

Paksha (पक्ष) is one of the two halves of the lunar cycle, each containing 15 tithis.

Shukla Paksha (शुक्ल पक्ष) is the waxing half, from new Moon toward full Moon. Krishna Paksha (कृष्ण पक्ष) is the waning half, from full Moon toward new Moon. A paksha is roughly a fortnight, not exactly 15 clock days.

Read the complete tithi name

The tithi numbers restart within each paksha. Shukla Shashthi is the sixth tithi of the waxing half; Krishna Shashthi is the sixth of the waning half.

Both halves use names from Pratipada through Chaturdashi for their first 14 tithis. The final tithi is Purnima (पूर्णिमा) in Shukla Paksha and Amavasya (अमावस्या) in Krishna Paksha.

On Delhi's page for 2 October 2026, Krishna Paksha Shashthi means the sixth tithi after the full Moon. Reading only “Shashthi” would leave out which half of the cycle is meant.

Paksha and lunar month are separate labels

Amanta and Purnimanta calendars place the month boundary at different phases. They can give different month names to the same Krishna Paksha date without disagreeing about its paksha or tithi.

For example, the same Delhi page shows Bhadrapada (Amanta) with Purnimanta: Ashwin. The lunar-month explainer describes how to read those names.

Where it appears

The dashboard prefixes the sunrise tithi with its paksha. There is no separate Paksha row. After Purnima ends, Krishna Pratipada begins; after Amavasya ends, Shukla Pratipada begins.

See the Panchang reading guide, or today's paksha in the Tithi row on the Delhi dashboard.