What the five limbs of the panchang mean
Tithi (तिथि) — the lunar day, defined by the Moon moving 12° ahead of the Sun. Thirty tithis make a lunar month across two pakshas: Shukla (waxing) and Krishna (waning). Fasts, festivals and shraddha dates all follow the tithi, not the English date.
Vara (वार) — the weekday, ruled by one of the seven classical planets. The vara changes at sunrise, not midnight — which is why a panchang for the early hours of the morning shows the previous day's vara.
Nakshatra (नक्षत्र) — the 27-fold division of the zodiac the Moon occupies. The day's nakshatra colours everything begun in it; it is also the basis of the muhurta system and of matching (the birth nakshatra is set by this same calculation).
Yoga (योग) — one of 27 Sun-Moon combinations, each auspicious or otherwise for specific activities. Karana (करण) — half a tithi; eleven karanas cycle through the month, and a few (like Vishti/Bhadra) are avoided for new beginnings.
Rahu Kaal, Gulika Kaal and Yamaganda
Each day carries three inauspicious windows whose timing depends on sunrise, sunset and the weekday: Rahu Kaal (avoid starting anything important), Gulika Kaal and Yamaganda (avoid journeys and new ventures). Because they are fractions of the actual day-length, they differ city to city — a Delhi Rahu Kaal is not a Mumbai Rahu Kaal. The calculator above computes them for your location.
Common questions
पंचांग क्या है? (What is a panchang?)
तिथि क्या होती है और यह अंग्रेज़ी तारीख़ से अलग क्यों है?
राहु काल में क्या नहीं करना चाहिए? (What to avoid in Rahu Kaal?)
अभिजीत मुहूर्त क्या है? (What is Abhijit Muhurta?)
चोघड़िया क्या है और शुभ चोघड़िया कौन-से हैं?
होरा क्या होती है? (What is a hora?)
क्या यह पंचांग सटीक है? (How accurate is this panchang?)
Learn more: What is a Kundli? · No birth time? What astrology can still tell you