Choghadiya explained: day and night tables, meanings and how to read them

Choghadiya divides the daytime (sunrise to sunset) into eight equal periods and the night (sunset to the next sunrise) into another eight. Each period carries one of seven names: Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Char are favourable or usable, while Rog, Kaal and Udveg are held to be unfavourable. The sequence starts from a different name on each weekday, and the length of each period depends on local sunrise and sunset, so a choghadiya table is only correct for the city it was computed for.

To see today's table for your city, start from the choghadiya hub. This page explains what the table is showing.

Where the name comes from

"Choghadiya" comes from chau (four) and ghadi, a traditional unit of 24 minutes. Four ghadis make 96 minutes, close to one-eighth of a twelve-hour day (90 minutes), so the name is a round approximation. In practice nobody uses a fixed length: each choghadiya is simply one-eighth of the actual day or night, whatever that turns out to be. The system is most widely used in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, and among Gujarati and Marwari families abroad, often for business openings and travel.

The seven choghadiyas and their lords

Each name is associated with a planet, and its character follows from the traditional nature of that planet.

• Amrit — Moon. The best of the seven; held good for any undertaking.
• Shubh — Jupiter. Good; favoured for ceremonies, marriage-related matters and learning.
• Labh — Mercury. Good; favoured for business, trade and study.
• Char — Venus. Neutral, "moving"; traditionally suited to travel and anything involving motion.
• Udveg — Sun. Unfavourable for most beginnings, though some hold it acceptable for dealings with government.
• Kaal — Saturn. Unfavourable; avoided for new work.
• Rog — Mars. Unfavourable; avoided for new work, especially anything to do with health.

There are seven names but eight slots in each half of the day, so one name always appears twice.

How the day sequence is built

The day starts with the choghadiya whose lord rules the weekday, and then runs through a fixed order:

Udveg → Char → Labh → Amrit → Kaal → Shubh → Rog → (back to Udveg)

The starting point for each weekday:

• Sunday: Udveg (Sun)
• Monday: Amrit (Moon)
• Tuesday: Rog (Mars)
• Wednesday: Labh (Mercury)
• Thursday: Shubh (Jupiter)
• Friday: Char (Venus)
• Saturday: Kaal (Saturn)

Because the cycle has seven names and the day has eight slots, the eighth daytime choghadiya is always the same as the first. Monday opens and closes with Amrit; Saturday opens and closes with Kaal.

How the night sequence is built

The night uses a different order:

Shubh → Amrit → Char → Rog → Kaal → Labh → Udveg → (back to Shubh)

And different starting points:

• Sunday night: Shubh
• Monday night: Char
• Tuesday night: Kaal
• Wednesday night: Udveg
• Thursday night: Amrit
• Friday night: Rog
• Saturday night: Labh

"Sunday night" here means the night that follows Sunday's daylight, from Sunday's sunset to Monday's sunrise. In the Hindu reckoning the day changes at sunrise, not midnight, so the hours after midnight still belong to the previous day's night choghadiya.

A worked example: Calgary, Saturday 17 October 2026

Calgary that day has sunrise at 08:04 and sunset at 18:37, a day of 633 minutes. One choghadiya is 633 ÷ 8 ≈ 79 minutes. Saturday starts with Kaal and follows the day order:

• 08:04–09:23 Kaal
• 09:23–10:43 Shubh
• 10:43–12:02 Rog
• 12:02–13:21 Udveg
• 13:21–14:40 Char
• 14:40–15:59 Labh
• 15:59–17:18 Amrit
• 17:18–18:37 Kaal

So on that Saturday in Calgary the usable stretches are Shubh in the morning, Char and Labh in the early afternoon, and Amrit in the late afternoon. That night starts with Labh and runs Labh, Udveg, Shubh, Amrit, Char, Rog, Kaal, Labh, each period being one-eighth of the time from 18:37 to Sunday's sunrise.

Notice that Rog, 10:43–12:02, coincides exactly with that day's Rahu Kaal. Both are eighths of the same daylight, so their boundaries always line up, and on most weekdays Rahu Kaal falls on Rog, Kaal or Udveg anyway. Not on every weekday, though: on Thursday Rahu Kaal coincides with Amrit, and on Tuesday with Shubh. That is why the site shows Rahu Kaal alongside the table, and many families skip a favourable choghadiya when it overlaps Rahu Kaal. See how Rahu Kaal is calculated for that side of the arithmetic.

How to read a choghadiya table

A table on the site lists the eight day periods and the eight night periods with start and end times in the city's local time, each labelled with its name and marked good, neutral or bad. To use it:

• Decide what you are starting. Travel favours Char; business favours Labh; ceremonies favour Shubh; Amrit suits anything.
• Find a period of the right kind that fits your schedule.
• Check whether that period overlaps Rahu Kaal; if it does and you have the choice, prefer a different window.
• Use the table for the city where the thing is actually happening, not where you were born or where your family lives.

City pages: Mumbai, Delhi, Dubai, London, New York, Toronto, Brampton, Calgary and Melbourne.

Why the times differ from printed calendars

Many printed calendars give choghadiya in fixed 90-minute blocks starting at 06:00. That is what the rule produces only if the day is exactly twelve hours long and starts at six. In Calgary in October the periods are 79 minutes and start after eight; in London in June each daytime choghadiya is over two hours and each night one much shorter. Daylight saving time moves the clock times again. A table computed from local sunrise and sunset handles all of this; a fixed chart handles none of it.

What choghadiya is, and is not

Choghadiya is a quick, practical layer of timing. It is easy to follow and needs no birth chart, which is why it is popular for everyday decisions such as when to leave on a journey or open a shop for the day. It is also a coarse tool. It does not consider the tithi, the nakshatra or anyone's horoscope, and a full muhurta for something significant weighs far more than which eighth of the day you are in. For that larger picture, see what muhurta can and cannot tell you.

Frequently asked questions

Which choghadiya is best?

Amrit is traditionally the best for any purpose. Shubh and Labh are good, and Char is good for travel. Rog, Kaal and Udveg are avoided for new beginnings.

Is choghadiya the same as Rahu Kaal?

No. Both split the day into eight equal parts, but Rahu Kaal marks one part to avoid, while choghadiya names all sixteen day and night parts. They are often read together.

When does night choghadiya end?

At the next local sunrise. A night choghadiya after midnight still belongs to the previous day's sequence.

Why is the first and last choghadiya of the day the same?

There are seven names and eight slots, so the cycle comes back round to its starting name in the eighth slot.