Daily Panchang: Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana & Vaar Explained

Panchang comes from the Sanskrit "panch" (five) and "ang" (limb). It is the five-limbed Vedic calendar used every single day across India to decide when to begin new ventures, when to fast, when to travel, when to marry, when to buy gold and when to simply rest. The five limbs are: Tithi (lunar day), Vaar (weekday), Nakshatra (lunar mansion), Yoga (sun-moon angular combination) and Karana (half-tithi).

Together these five numbers describe the energetic quality of any given 24-hour period. A Panchang is not just a calendar — it is a mood-reading of the day.

A Tithi is the time it takes the Moon to move 12 degrees away from the Sun. Each lunar month has 30 Tithis — 15 in the waxing fortnight (Shukla Paksha) ending in Purnima (full moon), and 15 in the waning fortnight (Krishna Paksha) ending in Amavasya (new moon).

Each Tithi has a mood. Pratipada (1st) is for beginnings. Dwitiya (2nd) is for travel. Chaturthi (4th) is for Ganesh worship. Ekadashi (11th) is for fasting. Purnima is for celebration and donation; Amavasya is for ancestral rites and introspection. The reason Hindus pay close attention to the lunar calendar is not superstition — it is that the Moon's phase correlates with the collective emotional temperature.

Each weekday is ruled by a planet. Sunday = Sun, Monday = Moon, Tuesday = Mars, Wednesday = Mercury, Thursday = Jupiter, Friday = Venus, Saturday = Saturn. If you are starting a business, Thursday is a classic auspicious choice (Jupiter brings growth); if you are starting a healing or counselling practice, Monday is often picked (Moon brings nourishment).

The Vedic zodiac is divided into 27 Nakshatras, each about 13 degrees 20 minutes wide. The Moon takes about one day to pass through each Nakshatra, so the daily Nakshatra tells you the quality of consciousness colouring the day.

Each Nakshatra has a ruling planet, a presiding deity, a symbol and a classical "nature" (auspicious, mixed or inauspicious). For example, Rohini (ruled by Moon) is one of the most auspicious Nakshatras and is a classical choice for marriages; Jyeshtha (ruled by Mercury) is considered intense and better for research than for social launches.

Yoga is calculated from the combined positions of the Sun and Moon. There are 27 Yogas, each lasting roughly a day. Some Yogas are classical "good" (Siddhi Yoga, Shubha Yoga, Harshana Yoga) and are chosen for major undertakings. Others (Vyatipata, Vaidhriti) are considered inauspicious and are typically avoided for important beginnings.

Yoga is one of the subtler limbs of Panchang and only becomes meaningful when combined with the other four — rarely do practitioners cancel a plan on Yoga alone.

Each Tithi is split into two Karanas. There are seven moving Karanas (Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija, Vishti) and four fixed Karanas (Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga, Kimstughna). Of these, Vishti (also called Bhadra) is the one to avoid — major undertakings are not started during Vishti because it is considered friction-prone.

You do not need to be an astrologer to use the Panchang. The simplest practical use is this: before starting something that matters — a new job, a marriage, a surgery, a vehicle purchase — check that the day's Tithi, Nakshatra and Yoga are not in the classically unfavourable list, and that the Karana is not Vishti. If three out of five are supportive, it is a reasonable day. If four or five are supportive, it is a strong day.

Our free Panchang page shows all five limbs for today and the next six days, highlighting auspicious choices in gold and friction windows in red.