Panchang Calendar

How to use the panchang calendar

Each cell in the calendar above shows the tithi (lunar day) prevailing at sunrise for that date, shaded by paksha, with markers for the three key monthly tithis — Ekadashi (the fasting day), Purnima (full moon) and Amavasya (new moon). Dates use Delhi as the reference city. Because a tithi can begin or end at any hour of the day, the day’s tithi is the one running at sunrise, and it can differ by a day in other cities whose sunrise falls on the other side of a tithi change. The calendar is designed to let you see a whole month of lunar days at a glance and spot the important dates for fasting, worship and planning ahead.

Tithi, paksha and the lunar month

A lunar month has thirty tithis in two fortnights. The waxing fortnight from the new moon (Amavasya) to the full moon (Purnima) is the Shukla Paksha, and the waning fortnight from Purnima back to Amavasya is the Krishna Paksha. Each paksha has fifteen tithis: Pratipada, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dwadashi, Trayodashi, Chaturdashi, and then Purnima (in Shukla) or Amavasya (in Krishna). Because the Moon’s speed varies, a tithi is not the same length as a solar day — it may be a little shorter or longer, so occasionally a tithi is repeated across two sunrises (an adhika or extra tithi) or skipped entirely (a kshaya tithi). The sunrise rule resolves this cleanly: whatever tithi is running at sunrise is the tithi for that calendar day.

Ekadashi, Purnima and Amavasya

The three marked tithis are the most widely observed of the month. Ekadashi, the eleventh tithi, falls twice a month (once in each paksha) and is the great fasting day of Lord Vishnu; each of the twenty-four Ekadashis of the year has its own name and story, and devotees fast and break the fast (paran) the next morning on Dwadashi. Purnima, the full moon, is a tithi of fullness and completion, on which festivals such as Guru Purnima, Sharad Purnima, Kartik Purnima, Hanuman Jayanti and Holika Dahan fall. Amavasya, the new moon, is the tithi of the ancestors, used for pitru rites and, on Kartik Amavasya, for Diwali’s Lakshmi Puja. To see the exact fasting dates, open the Ekadashi page, and to learn each lunar day, the tithi pages.

Reading a month at a glance

To read a month on the calendar, scan down the paksha shading to see the waxing and waning halves, and look for the coloured markers to find the Ekadashi, Purnima and Amavasya. The full moon and new moon anchor the month: everything between Amavasya and Purnima is the bright, waxing half, traditionally favoured for growth and new beginnings, and everything between Purnima and Amavasya is the waning half, favoured for completion, reflection and reducing. Knowing where today sits in this rhythm — waxing or waning, near a full or new moon — gives an immediate sense of the month’s flow.

Adhik maas and why Gregorian dates shift

People often ask why Diwali or Holi falls on a different English date each year. The answer is that the Hindu calendar is luni-solar: twelve lunar months make about 354 days, while the solar year is about 365, a gap of roughly eleven days. To keep the festivals aligned with their seasons, an extra lunar month — adhik maas or malmaas — is inserted roughly every third year. This is why the Gregorian date of a festival moves earlier by about eleven days each year and then jumps forward when an adhik maas is added, always staying around the same season. Adhik maas is avoided for auspicious rites such as weddings and housewarming, but is considered especially meritorious for worship, charity and pilgrimage. In the very rare case that a month is dropped, it is called a kshaya maas.

The five natures of tithi

Beyond their numbers, the tithis fall into five repeating natures that shape what a day suits, and these are worth noticing on the calendar: Nanda (Pratipada, Shashthi, Ekadashi) is joyful and good for celebration; Bhadra (Dwitiya, Saptami, Dwadashi) is healthy and good for business and foundations; Jaya (Tritiya, Ashtami, Trayodashi) is victorious and good for bold acts; Rikta (Chaturthi, Navami, Chaturdashi) is “empty” and generally avoided for auspicious beginnings; and Purna (Panchami, Dashami, Purnima) is full and good for completions and journeys. Combined with the weekday and the nakshatra, these natures help decide which day suits a given task — the calendar shows the tithi, and the tithi pages explain each nature in depth.

The monthly vrats

The lunar month has a steady rhythm of recurring vrats that the calendar helps you anticipate. Besides the two Ekadashis, Pradosh Vrat falls on the thirteenth tithi (Trayodashi) of each paksha and is dedicated to Lord Shiva, observed at dusk. Sankashti Chaturthi falls on the fourth tithi of the Krishna paksha and is dedicated to Lord Ganesha, with the fast broken after moonrise, while Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Shukla-paksha counterpart. Masik Shivaratri falls on the Krishna Chaturdashi each month. Knowing these recurring dates lets families plan their fasts and worship in advance, and the calendar’s markers make the anchor tithis easy to find.

Regional month systems

The same tithis are named within different month systems by region. In the amanta system (South and West India) the month ends at Amavasya, while in the purnimanta system (North India) it ends at Purnima; the tithis are identical, only the Krishna-paksha month name differs, so a festival can appear to fall in a different month by region. Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Kerala also use solar reckonings with their own new years. Because of these differences, and because the tithi at sunrise can vary by city, some dates may shift by a day between regions — so for religious observance, confirm important dates with your local panchang.

Planning ahead with the calendar

Use the calendar to spot upcoming Ekadashi, Purnima and Amavasya at a glance across the coming months, then open the muhurat planner for the choghadiya, Rahu Kaal and Abhijit Muhurat on a specific date and city. For festival dates, see the festival calendar; for auspicious buying days, the gold-buying days; and to look up any single day for your own city, open your city’s daily panchang. Together these turn the monthly overview into concrete, city-specific timing.

How we compute the calendar

Every tithi shown is computed with drik ganita — the true positions of the Sun and Moon are calculated for Delhi’s coordinates, and the tithi at sunrise is taken for each date. This is more accurate than older tabular methods, and nothing is hand-edited. As always, a tithi can differ by a day in other cities, and different panchang traditions may use a slightly different sunrise convention; so for religious use, confirm important dates locally. For the fundamentals of tithi, paksha and the lunar month, read the complete panchang guide.