The five parts
Panchang means five limbs. Its principal entries describe the lunar day, lunar mansion, weekday, combined solar–lunar angle and half-tithi. Together they provide a traditional description of the day’s astronomical setting.
| Element | What it describes | What to look for |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Moon–Sun elongation in steps of 12 degrees | Fortnight, name and ending time |
| Nakshatra | The Moon’s position among 27 equal ecliptic divisions | Name and transition time |
| Vara | Weekday | Civil date and the almanac’s sunrise-based day |
| Yoga | The combined longitudes of the Sun and Moon in 27 divisions | Name and ending time |
| Karana | Half of a tithi | Sequence and transition time |
Read the heading first
Before using the table, identify the city, Modern Calendar / Gregorian date, era and month convention. Sunrise differs between Patna and Mumbai even though both use IST. The sunrise can therefore fall on different sides of a tithi transition. Likewise, Purnimanta and Amanta month labels can differ on the same date.
A practical reading sequence
- Find the Modern Calendar / Gregorian date and city.
- Read the month, fortnight and tithi together.
- Check the tithi end and whether its printed date is the same day or the following one.
- Read the other four elements and their individual transition times.
- For a festival, follow that observance’s rule for the relevant part of the day.
What the IndiaTime calendar supplies
The working Hindu calendar focuses on the date-reading task: month, fortnight, sunrise tithi, era year and tithi interval. It offers North Indian Purnimanta, Deccan Amanta and Gujarati Amanta conventions. For a full Panchang table with all five elements, open the linked daily almanac reference.
Calendar date and daily time windows
Sunrise-based daylight divisions are another layer. Rahu Kaal divides the local daylight period into weekday-dependent intervals, while the sunrise and sunset tool provides astronomical horizon estimates. These tools answer a timing question; the Panchang’s era, month and tithi answer a calendar question.