Tithi and sunrise

How can a tithi be skipped or repeated?

A Panchang names each day by the tithi at sunrise. See a short tithi slip between two sunrises in Delhi, and a long one hold two of them.

01 · Sunrise picks the label

A short tithi can fit between two sunrises; a long one can hold two.

Each Panchang day takes the tithi current at its sunrise. A tithi shorter than the gap between sunrises can begin after one and end before the next, and no day is named after it. A tithi longer than a day can hold two sunrises, and two days share its name.

Skipped, Nov 2026Ekadashi runs 20 Nov 07:16 to 21 Nov 06:32 · at each sunrise: 18 Nov: Navami; 19 Nov: Navami; 20 Nov: Dashami; 21 Nov: Dwadashi; 22 Nov: Trayodashi

Tithi changes from the site’s ephemeris; sunrises from the site’s Panchang for Delhi, IST.

Two clocks that do not match

A Panchang day runs from one sunrise to the next and takes the tithi that is current at its sunrise, as why a tithi can end in the middle of the day explains. Sunrises come about 24 hours apart. Tithis last anywhere from about 20 to 27 hours. The two sequences slip against each other, and now and then the mismatch shows.

A skipped tithi

In Delhi, Shukla Ekadashi in November 2026 began at 07:16 IST on 20 November, 29 minutes after sunrise, and ended at 06:32 on 21 November, 16 minutes before the next sunrise. It held no sunrise at all. The sunrise of 20 November fell in Dashami and the sunrise of 21 November in Dwadashi, so in Delhi’s Panchang no day is labelled Ekadashi. The tithi is called kshaya, “lost”, for that place.

The Ekadashi still happened; it is the label that is missing. A festival or fast tied to it follows its own rule for choosing a day, which is why the site’s Ekadashi list still gives 20 November for Devutthana Ekadashi.

A repeated tithi

Shukla Ekadashi in May 2026 ran from 05:11 IST on 26 May, 14 minutes before sunrise, to 06:22 on 27 May, nearly an hour after the next sunrise. It held both sunrises, so two consecutive Panchang days, 26 and 27 May, are both Ekadashi. The tithi is called vriddhi, “increased”.

Navami in the November example does the same: 18 and 19 November both began in it.

How often, and where

In Delhi in 2026, 17 tithis held no sunrise and 11 held two. The cases are local, because sunrise is: a tithi skipped in Delhi can hold a sunrise in New York, as why the same festival can have two dates shows. The tithi guide describes how the Panchang shows a tithi that ends during the day.

See today’s tithi and when it ends on the Delhi Panchang, or explore another topic in Learn.