panchang.now

The five parts

How the five Panchang parts work together

Tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vaar each change on their own clock. See one Delhi day laid out together, and what two start times actually meet.

01 · One moment, five readings

Each part changes on its own clock, so the reading depends on the minute.

The Panchang at sunrise is the day’s opening state. An activity that starts later meets whatever each part holds at that moment, together with the day’s timed windows.

The five parts of the Panchang at 08:00Six rows from sunrise on 2 October 2026 to the next sunrise in Delhi: tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana, vaar, and the Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika and Abhijit windows. A line marks 08:00, where the values are Shashthi · Mrigashira · Vyatipata · Vanija, with Gulika active.DELHI, FRIDAY 2 OCTOBER 2026, SUNRISE TO SUNRISETithiShashthiSaptamiNakshatraMrigashirArdraYogaVyatipataVariyanKaranaVanijaVishtiBavaVaarShukra · FridayWindows: Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika, AbhijitRahuYama08:0012:0018:0000:00
08:00 ISTShashthi · Mrigashira · Vyatipata · Vanija · Gulika active
Changes and windows from the site’s Panchang for Delhi, IST. Vishti is shown in red, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika in red, Abhijit in green.

Five clocks on one day

The word Panchang means “five limbs”: tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vaar. The first four come from the Sun’s and Moon’s positions and change whenever an angle crosses its next boundary, at any hour. The vaar changes only at sunrise. On most days at least one of them changes before sunset, and the karana always changes at least once.

So the Panchang at sunrise, the line most calendars print, is the day’s opening state. It is not a value that holds all day.

Friday, 2 October 2026, in Delhi

At sunrise the five read Krishna Shashthi, Mrigashira, Vyatipata, Vanija and Shukra (Friday). Then:

  • At 10:15 Shashthi gave way to Saptami, and with it Vanija to Vishti.
  • At 18:14 Vyatipata gave way to the next yoga.
  • Mrigashira held until 02:53 the next morning, past midnight but before the next sunrise.

Laid over these are the day’s timed windows. Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika each take one eighth of daylight, chosen by the weekday, and Abhijit sits around local midday.

Two start times

Take two candidate times for the same activity. At 08:00 the tithi is Shashthi and the karana Vanija, and Gulika is running. At 12:20 the tithi is Saptami and the karana is Vishti, and Abhijit is running. The nakshatra and yoga are the same at both.

The picture does not say which is better. That depends on the activity and on the tradition being followed: one reading excludes Vishti for new undertakings, another gives more weight to the windows. What the picture does show is that each condition must be read at the moment itself, and that the conditions can point in different directions. The interpretation guide works through this same example with the traditional rules, and how the Now verdict works explains the narrower rule the site’s own label applies.

See the five parts and today’s windows on the Delhi Panchang, or explore another topic in Learn.