Choosing a place and date
Set the place in the location field (the tab defaults to a sensible starting location and shows today’s date). Navigate months with the left and right arrows. The calendar view marks today, shows a small moon-phase icon on each date, flags special days like Ekādaśī, and previews the next upcoming festival:The five limbs
The “five limbs” are the five quantities that together define a Vedic day. Each one changes at its own pace — rarely on the stroke of midnight or sunrise — so the day-detail panel reports not just the value but the clock time at which it transitions.| Limb | What it is | Sample (Wed 17 Jun) |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | The lunar day — the Moon’s angular gain over the Sun in 12° steps. There are 30 per lunar month, split into the waxing (śukla) and waning (kṛṣṇa) fortnights. | Tritiyā → 21:39, then Chaturthī |
| Vāra | The weekday, each ruled by a planet. | Budhavāra (Mercury / Wednesday) |
| Nakṣatra | The Moon’s lunar mansion (see Nakṣatras). | Punarvasu → 13:37, then Pushya |
| Yoga | A value derived from the sum of Sun and Moon longitudes, divided into 27 segments of 13°20′ each. | Dhruva → 20:51, then Vyāghāta |
| Karaṇa | Half a tithi; 11 karaṇas cycle through the month. | Taitila → 11:12, Gara → 21:39, Vaṇija |
Jyeshtha · Shukla paksha · Budhavara
Each limb is displayed with its transition time — for example, Punarvasu → 13:37 · Pushya means Punarvasu runs until 1:37 pm, at which point Pushya begins. This precision matters for muhūrta: the quality of a moment can shift partway through the day, and an election made in the morning may differ from one made in the evening even if both fall on the same date.
Sunrise, sunset, and auspicious windows
Because the Vedic day begins at sunrise and most calculations are reckoned from it, the day-detail panel gives sunrise and sunset for the selected place. It derives several named time windows used in electional astrology (muhūrta):- Pradoṣa — the twilight window immediately after sunset, considered auspicious for certain observances, especially those associated with Śiva.
- Niśītha — the window around midnight, significant for some rituals and festival observances (for example, the birth-time celebrations of Janmāṣṭamī).
Festivals, Ekādaśī, and fasts
The month view marks recurring observances across the calendar. Ekādaśī — the 11th tithi of each fortnight, a widely kept fasting day — is labelled on the relevant dates so you can spot it at a glance. Upcoming festivals such as Guru Pūrṇimā appear as a preview banner. Because festivals are defined by tithi and nakṣatra rather than by a fixed Gregorian date, their calendar position shifts from year to year — the app resolves the conversion for you automatically.The leap month (Adhika māsa)
The Hindu calendar is luni-solar: it must keep lunar months aligned with the solar year even though the two cycles do not divide evenly. Roughly every three years, an extra intercalary month — the Adhika māsa (“added month”), sometimes called the “leap month” — is inserted. When the year you are browsing contains one, the app shows a notice:2026 has an Adhika (leap) monthThis is why a festival can occasionally appear to “jump” by a whole month between consecutive years. A reliable Panchāng must detect the leap month rather than assume twelve lunar months per solar year, and the app handles this automatically across all its date arithmetic.
How to use it
Pick an auspicious time
Browse to your candidate date, check the five limbs and their transition times, and note the muhūrta windows. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see Choosing an auspicious date.
Track fasts and festivals
Use the month view’s Ekādaśī markers and festival previews to plan ahead. Because dates are tithi-based, checking the Panchāng is more reliable than a fixed-date reminder.