Panchang Calculator (Today)

Panchang (Sanskrit panch + anga, "five limbs") is the traditional Hindu almanac, the timekeeping framework that has guided Indian life for thousands of years. For any given moment it reports five astronomical elements — the five angas — each derived from the positions of the Sun and the Moon along the zodiac. This calculator computes the Panchang for any date and hour, giving you the Tithi (lunar day), Vaara (weekday), Nakshatra (lunar mansion), Yoga (a combined Sun + Moon angle), and Karana (half-tithi) for that instant.

The Panchang is the backbone of the Hindu lunisolar calendar. It is consulted across India to find an auspicious time (muhurat) for weddings, housewarmings (griha pravesh), naming ceremonies, and starting a new venture; to mark festivals such as Diwali, Holi, Navratri, Ekadashi, and Sankranti; and in Vedic astrology (jyotish) for casting and reading a birth chart. Whether you are a family planning a ceremony, a student of jyotish, or simply curious about the day's lunar character, this tool gives you the five angas at a glance, with respect for the deep cultural tradition behind them.

The five angas (limbs)

1. Tithi — the lunar day, the time it takes the Moon to gain 12° over the Sun. A lunar month has 30 tithis, split into the waxing Shukla Paksha (1–15, ending at the full Moon, Purnima) and the waning Krishna Paksha (1–15, ending at the new Moon, Amavasya).
2. Vaara — the weekday, Ravivara (Sunday) through Shanivara (Saturday), each ruled by a planet.
3. Nakshatra — the lunar mansion. The ecliptic is divided into 27 nakshatras of 13°20' each; the one occupied by the Moon is the current nakshatra, each carrying a ruling deity and planetary lord.
4. Yoga — one of 27 yogas of 13°20' each, found from the combined longitude of the Sun and Moon. Some yogas are considered favourable, others inauspicious.
5. Karana — the half-tithi. There are 60 karanas in a lunar month, named from a set of 11 (4 fixed and 7 repeating).

How the calculation works

The Panchang is fundamentally lunar-based, computed from the apparent geocentric positions of the Sun and Moon. This calculator follows the standard Vedic method:

1. Convert the civil date, hour, and timezone into a Julian Day (Meeus algorithm 7).
2. Compute the Sun and Moon apparent geocentric tropical longitudes (Meeus chapters 25 and 47).
3. Subtract the Lahiri Ayanamsa to convert tropical longitudes into sidereal longitudes, the reference frame Vedic astronomy uses.
4. Tithi = floor(((moon − sun) mod 360) ÷ 12) + 1.
5. Nakshatra = floor(moon ÷ 13°20') + 1.
6. Yoga = floor(((sun + moon) mod 360) ÷ 13°20') + 1.
7. Karana = lookup by half-tithi index (0..59 maps to the 11 named karanas).

Worked example

Suppose at the chosen instant the sidereal Sun longitude is 35° and the sidereal Moon longitude is 95°. The Moon–Sun gap is 95° − 35° = 60°, so Tithi = floor(60 ÷ 12) + 1 = 6 — Shashthi of the Shukla Paksha (waxing, because the Moon is ahead of the Sun by less than 180°). The Nakshatra is floor(95 ÷ 13.333) + 1 = 8 — Pushya. The Yoga uses the sum: (35 + 95) = 130°, so Yoga = floor(130 ÷ 13.333) + 1 = 10. These same three numbers hold worldwide at that instant, because they depend only on the Sun and Moon, not on the observer's city.

Lahiri Ayanamsa

Lahiri Ayanamsa is the official Indian sidereal-tropical offset, codified by the Government of India Calendar Reform Committee in 1957. It is the angle between the tropical zero point (the vernal equinox) and the fixed sidereal zero of Vedic astronomy, and it drifts at about 50.27 arcseconds per year because of the precession of the equinoxes. As of 2026 it is approximately 24.18°.

Tips and common mistakes

• A tithi is not 24 hours. Because the Moon moves at a varying speed, tithis range from roughly 19 to 26 clock-hours, so two days can share a tithi or a tithi can be skipped (kshaya).
• The five angas change at the exact moment a boundary is crossed, not at midnight or sunrise — that is why almanacs quote the Panchang "at sunrise of City X". This tool reports the values for the specific date and hour you enter.
• The same tithi name appears in both pakshas; always read the paksha (Shukla = waxing, Krishna = waning) alongside it.
• Do not confuse the sidereal (Vedic) zodiac used here with the tropical zodiac of Western astrology; the Lahiri Ayanamsa is what bridges the two.

Precision

This calculator uses simplified Meeus expansions accurate to within about ±0.5° for the Moon's longitude, which means Tithi and Nakshatra boundary times may differ from full-precision Drik Ganita observatory tables by a few minutes. For ritual or muhurat decisions, treat the result as a guide and confirm with a qualified Panchang authority or a Drik Ganita source using the Swiss Ephemeris or JPL DE-440 ephemeris.