What is a Panchang?

The word itself

Panchang (also written Panchanga) comes from two Sanskrit words: pancha = five and anga = limb or part. A Panchang is a calendar that describes each day through five "limbs": the tithi (lunar day), vara (weekday), nakshatra (the star group the Moon is in), yoga (a Sun and Moon combination) and karana (half of a tithi).

Families have used a Panchang for generations. It tells you when a festival falls, which day to keep a fast, when to start a puja, and which hours of the day are better or worse for beginning something new.

A calendar of the Sun and the Moon

The Hindu calendar is lunisolar. It follows the Moon for the month and the lunar day, and it uses the Sun to keep the months in step with the seasons. Because the Moon's cycle is shorter than a solar year, an extra month is added from time to time. That is why festival dates move around on the Gregorian calendar, even though they stay fixed in the Hindu one.

A Panchang is not a fixed printed table that never changes. The Moon and Sun move at slightly uneven speeds, so the exact start and end of each limb change from day to day and from place to place. This is why a good Panchang is calculated for a particular city.

How this site works

The calculations on this site follow a few clear conventions.

• Sidereal zodiac. Positions of the Sun and Moon are measured against the fixed stars, using the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa, the correction widely used for Indian calendars. Positions are calculated astronomically for the city you choose.
• Day from sunrise. The Hindu day runs from sunrise to the next sunrise. The tithi in effect at sunrise is the "udaya tithi" and gives the day its tithi. Because tithis, nakshatras, yogas and karanas begin and end at any hour, the site always shows the exact start and end time of each one.
• Two month names. Purnimanta months (North India) end on Purnima. Amanta months (Gujarat, Maharashtra and South India) end on Amavasya. The site shows the Purnimanta name first and the Amanta name beside it.
• Two year counts. The Vikram Samvat year begins on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada in the main count, and Gujarat's Kartikadi year begins the day after Diwali. The Shaka year is shown as well.
• Your local time. All times are in the local time zone of the city you choose, including daylight saving time where it applies.

Why the city matters

Sunrise happens at a different moment in New Jersey, Houston and Fremont. Since the Hindu day starts at sunrise, the tithi at sunrise, the weekday change, Rahu Kalam, Choghadiya and Abhijit Muhurat all shift with the place. The tithi itself changes at one single moment for the whole Earth. What differs from city to city is the local clock time you read it on, and which tithi is running at your sunrise.

If you use a Panchang printed in India, remember that it is set for an Indian city. For life in the USA, always use times calculated for your own city.

When traditions differ

Hindu communities do not all follow identical rules. The main differences are the month system (Purnimanta or Amanta), the start of the new year, and which hour of the day some festivals are judged by. Where this matters, the pages on this site say so. If your family has a custom, or your priest gives guidance, follow that.

Where to go next

Start with the page on the five limbs for a short overview of each part, then read about the tithi, which is the part most people check first. The pages on the sunrise-based day and the udaya tithi rule explain why a festival can seem to fall on a different day from the one you expected.