The five limbs of the panchang: what tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga and karana measure

The panchang ("five limbs") describes each day with five measurements of the Sun and Moon. Tithi is each 12° of the Moon's angular lead over the Sun. Karana is half a tithi, 6°. Nakshatra is which 13°20′ segment of the sidereal zodiac the Moon occupies. Yoga is the sum of the Sun's and Moon's sidereal longitudes, counted in 13°20′ steps. Vara is the weekday, counted from sunrise to sunrise. All five are computed, not looked up, and all five change at different moments of the day.

The site's daily panchang shows all five for your city, with the times at which each one changes.

Tithi: the Moon's lead over the Sun

The Moon travels round the sky faster than the Sun, gaining roughly 12° a day on it. A tithi is each 12° of that gain. At new Moon the two are together (0°); at full Moon the Moon is 180° ahead; by the next new Moon it has gained a full 360°. That is 360 ÷ 12 = 30 tithis per lunar month.

• Tithis 1 to 15 make the waxing fortnight, Shukla paksha, ending at Purnima (full Moon).
• Tithis 16 to 30 make the waning fortnight, Krishna paksha, ending at Amavasya (new Moon).
• Within each fortnight they are numbered 1 to 14 again: Pratipada, Dwitiya, Tritiya and so on.

Because the Moon's speed varies along its elliptical orbit, a tithi is not a fixed length; it can run from roughly 19 to 26 hours. That has a consequence people often find confusing. The tithi of a calendar day is the one in force at local sunrise. A short tithi can start after one sunrise and end before the next, so it is never "the tithi of the day" anywhere and is skipped (kshaya). A long one can be in force at two successive sunrises, and is counted twice (vriddhi). And because sunrise differs by place, the same tithi can fall on different calendar days in different cities.

Karana: half a tithi

A karana is each 6° of the Moon's lead, so there are 60 in a lunar month. There are eleven named karanas. Seven are "movable" and repeat in sequence: Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Garaja, Vanija, Vishti. Four are "fixed" and appear once a month: Kimstughna takes the 1st slot, and Shakuni, Chatushpada and Naga take the 58th, 59th and 60th. The seven movable karanas fill slots 2 to 57, eight times round.

Vishti, also called Bhadra, is the karana most often avoided for auspicious beginnings.

Nakshatra: where the Moon is

The sidereal zodiac, measured against the fixed stars, is divided into 27 equal nakshatras of 360 ÷ 27 = 13°20′ each, starting with Ashwini at 0°. The day's nakshatra is the segment the Moon occupies. Each nakshatra is further split into four padas of 3°20′, which is how a birth nakshatra maps to syllables for baby names by nakshatra.

The Moon moves roughly 13° a day, so it spends about a day in each nakshatra, though the change can happen at any hour.

Yoga: the sum of the two longitudes

Yoga is the least intuitive limb. Add the Sun's sidereal longitude to the Moon's, subtract 360° if the total exceeds it, and divide by 13°20′. The result picks one of 27 yogas, starting with Vishkambha, Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Atiganda, Sukarma, Dhriti, Shula, Ganda and so on. It has no simple visual meaning in the sky; it is a combined measure of the two luminaries' motion. The tradition treats a few yogas, such as Vyatipata and Vaidhriti, as unfavourable.

Vara: the weekday

Vara is the weekday, named after the seven classical planets in the order familiar from European languages. The difference is that the Hindu day starts at local sunrise, not midnight. Anything after midnight but before sunrise still belongs to the previous vara. This matters for choghadiya, Rahu Kaal and horai, all of which are counted from sunrise.

A worked example

Suppose that at sunrise the Sun's sidereal longitude is 200° and the Moon's is 287°, on a Thursday.

• Tithi. The Moon's lead is 287 − 200 = 87°. 87 ÷ 12 = 7.25, so seven tithis are complete and this is the 8th: Shukla Ashtami, a quarter of the way through.
• Karana. 87 ÷ 6 = 14.5, so fourteen karanas are complete and this is the 15th. Slots 2 to 8 are Bava to Vishti, and 9 to 15 repeat them, so the 15th is Vishti. This half of Ashtami is Bhadra, and a muhurta calculator would rule it out for an auspicious start until the next karana begins at 90°.
• Nakshatra. 287 ÷ 13.33 = 21.53, so 21 nakshatras are complete and the Moon is in the 22nd, Shravana (280° to 293°20′). It is 7° into Shravana; 7 ÷ 3.33 = 2.1, so it is in the 3rd pada.
• Yoga. 200 + 287 = 487°; minus 360° gives 127°. 127 ÷ 13.33 = 9.53, so nine yogas are complete and this is the 10th, Ganda.
• Vara. Thursday (Guruvara), because the measurements are taken at Thursday's sunrise.

The Moon's lead grows about 12° a day, so the 3° needed to leave Vishti take roughly six hours. The Moon covers the remaining 6°20′ of Shravana in about half a day. Each limb changes on its own schedule, which is why a panchang lists end times for each rather than a single verdict for the day.

Why ayanamsa matters for some limbs and not others

Nakshatra and yoga use sidereal longitudes, measured from a starting point fixed against the stars. Western astronomy usually gives tropical longitudes, measured from the March equinox. The two differ by the ayanamsa, about 24° at present on the Lahiri convention the site uses.

Tithi and karana depend only on the difference between the Moon and the Sun, so the ayanamsa cancels out: any two almanacs agree on them, whatever convention they follow. Nakshatra shifts by the full ayanamsa, and yoga by twice it, because both longitudes are added. Disagreements between almanacs on nakshatra and yoga end times are usually down to ayanamsa or rounding; on tithi they are usually down to the definition of sunrise or a different city. The astronomy behind this is set out in the astronomy of the Hindu luni-solar calendar.

How the limbs are used

Each limb is used differently. Tithi and nakshatra carry most of the weight in choosing a muhurta; karana is mostly used to exclude Vishti; yoga excludes a few inauspicious combinations; vara selects the weekday and sets the starting point for choghadiya and horai. For how they come together in practice, see what muhurta can and cannot tell you.

Frequently asked questions

Why does the tithi change in the middle of the day?

A tithi ends whenever the Moon's lead over the Sun reaches the next multiple of 12°, which can happen at any hour. The tithi named for a calendar day is the one in force at local sunrise.

How many tithis, nakshatras, yogas and karanas are there?

Thirty tithis per lunar month, 27 nakshatras, 27 yogas, and eleven named karanas filling 60 slots per month.

Is my birth nakshatra the same as the day's nakshatra?

Your birth nakshatra is the Moon's nakshatra at the moment of birth. A free kundli computes it from your birth time and place.

Why do two panchangs give different nakshatra end times?

Usually because they use different ayanamsas, or because they were computed for different cities. A difference of a few minutes is common and not significant.