Why Panchang depends on sunrise

Sunrise is the reference moment used to select the daily values in the dashboard's Panchang at sunrise section.

Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana continue changing through the day and night. A calendar needs a reference moment to label a day; panchang.now uses sunrise in the selected city. The Vaar, or weekday, also runs from sunrise to next sunrise.

Sunrise value and current value

For Delhi on 2 October 2026, sunrise is at 06:14. Shashthi tithi is active then and ends at 10:15, when Saptami begins.

The Tithi row retains Shashthi as the sunrise value. The ending time and “then Saptami” explain what follows. It would be incorrect to read the large sunrise label as the tithi still active at noon.

Before the next sunrise

A clock date starts at midnight, partway through the Panchang night. The night on the 2 October page ends at 06:15 on 3 October.

Before that sunrise, today's live view retains the preceding Panchang day and explains why. An explicitly selected date instead opens the day beginning at that date's sunrise. Brahma Muhurta on a page belongs to the following morning.

Sunrise does not decide every festival

Some observances depend on the tithi at sunset, midnight or another specified interval. Their rules need more than the daily sunrise label. The festival pages describe the relevant convention where it affects the date.

Near a transition, different cities' sunrise times can select different daily values. Different definitions of sunrise can also matter at a close boundary; the site's convention is on About.

See the Panchang reading guide, or today's sunrise and Panchang values on the Delhi dashboard.