Panchanga and the calendar

Panchanga (pañcāṅga) is the Indian astronomical and astrological almanac that describes the state of the sky for each day. The name comes from Sanskrit "pancha" (five) + "anga" (limb, part). Hence the name's meaning: panchanga is the five elements of the daily count of time. This section is an overview: it explains what panchanga is, what its five limbs are, and which special days and phenomena it tracks.

What panchanga is

Panchanga is the Indian calendar that recalculates the daily state of the sky. It tracks the solar and lunar cycles at the same time, so many of its elements change daily.

Panchanga is used in Hinduism to determine an auspicious time for rituals, weddings, fasts, and other significant events. The calendar shows five limbs (parts) of each day.

Panchanga took shape as a lunisolar almanac, and that is its difference from the purely solar Gregorian calendar. The lunar part of the count means that the dates of tithi-based holidays — Ekadashi, Purnima, Amavasya — are not fixed to a day of the month and shift by a week and a half to two weeks every year. The solar part works differently: Sankranti is counted from the Sun's entry into a sign, so year to year it falls on nearly the same date, and the drift against the Gregorian date accumulates over centuries, not from one year to the next.

The five limbs of panchanga

The five limbs of panchanga are five layers that make up the quality of a day. Each has its own set of names and its own traditional correspondences: vara has a ruling planet, nakshatra has a ruler under Vimshottari, tithi and karana each have a presiding deity (given differently across sources), and yoga has a muhurta classification into favorable and unfavorable.

1. Tithi — the lunar day, the stretch of time during which the angle between the Moon and the Sun grows by 12°. There are 30 tithis in a lunar month.
2. Vara — the day of the week, ruled by one of the seven planets. There are 7 varas in a week.
3. Nakshatra — the lunar mansion, a 13°20′ segment of the zodiac. There are 27 nakshatras.
4. Yoga — a 13°20′ segment measured by the combined longitudes of the Sun and Moon. There are 27 yogas.
5. Karana — half a tithi. There are 60 karanas in a lunar month, but only eleven names: seven movable (chara) karanas repeat in a cycle eight times, and four fixed (sthira) karanas hold set places at the month's turn.

These five limbs give a complete picture of the day's calendar background. Different schools of jyotish weigh each limb differently, but overall they complement one another.

Special days and phenomena

Besides the five daily limbs, panchanga tracks special days:

• Paksha — the bright (shukla) and dark (krishna) halves of the lunar month, fifteen tithis each.
• Ekadashi — the 11th tithi of each half of the month, a fasting day.
• Parana — breaking the Ekadashi fast on the following tithi, within a calculated window.
• Purnima — the full moon, the 15th tithi of the bright half.
• Amavasya — the new moon, the 15th tithi of the dark half (the 30th in the month's running count).
• Sankranti — the moment the Sun crosses from one sign into the next, twelve times a year.
• Adhika masa — an intercalary month inserted every 2-3 years to keep the lunar and solar cycles in step.
• Grahana — an eclipse, solar or lunar.

These special days carry additional recommendations for fasting, prayer, and charity.

How to read this section

Each of the five daily limbs, and each special day, is a separate article. Its page carries a description of the element, its calculation method, and its practical applications. Neighboring articles are linked through "Related terms."

When reading, keep in mind: panchanga is not a prediction of fate but a tool for choosing time. It shows favorable and unfavorable moments, but a person always keeps the freedom to choose and to act.

Panchanga itself is not part of the birth chart: it describes the day's background, shared by everyone, not the indicators of a particular person. For how this background combines with personal life periods, see the Timing and Rhythms section.