Vedic Astrology And Associated Studies

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>PANCHANGA BASICS</b>

I have been flooded with messages that I should explain the fundamentals of a panchanga in such a manner as even a tyro is able to understand.  I shall try to do the same.


<b>Panchang</b>

The literal meaning of Panchang is a “body comprising five limbs”.  These are:

1.     Tithi, (2) nakshatra, (3) yoga (4) Karna and (5) var.


It is worthwhile to mention here that all these elements of a panchaga are phenomena related to just the two lights viz. the sun and the moon and have nothing whatsoever to do with any (other) planet like Budha or Shukra etc., which are a “necessary evil” only for predictive astrology, whether “Vedic” or “not-so-Vedic”.



1. Tithi is the distance between the sun and the moon divided by 12.  Suppose the sun is in one degree of Mesha and the moon in fourteen degrees of the same sign.  It means dwitiya tithi is prevailing since twelve degrees have already been “gained” by the moon over the sun.  Similarly, after covering twenty-four degrees, the tithi will be tritya and so on.

When the distance between the Moon and the sun is less than 180 degrees it is known as Shukla paksha---the bright lunar half---(Purnima being the exact distance of 180 degrees, known as Full Moon).  After that Krishna paksha---the dark lunar half---starts till the distance between the sun and the moon is 360° i.e. zero.  It is known as Amavasya i.e. New Moon then

Let us illustrate it with an example for Mahashivaratri i.e. February 7, 2005:

If you consult any Hindu panchanga, you will find that on February 7, 2005,at 5-30 am IST

a) the longitude of the sun was 294° 22’ 50”.              

b) that of the moon 266° 56’ 48”.

(Though these are so called nirayana longitudes, we shall not at this stage enter into any discussion as to whether these are correct or incorrect.)

     Since the longitude of the Moon is less than that of the sun, we have to add 360° (a circle!) to the same and it becomes

b)  360° + 266° 56’ 48” = 626° 56’ 48”

c)  By subtracting the sun i.e. (a) from the moon i.e. (b), we get   

d)  626° 56’ 48” minus 294° 22’ 50” = 332° 33’ 58”.

By dividing this by 12 we get

e)  332° 33’ 58” /12 = 27 as dividend and 0.713843 as the remainder.   Since the dividend, i.e. the number of tithis elapsed is more than 15 it is Krishna Paksha, and 27 minus fifteen = 12 i.e. twelve tithis of Krishna Paksha had already elapsed and it is thus trayodashi that was prevailing at that time.

f)  This tithi viz. trayodashi ended when the distance between the sun and the moon was 28 (27 tithis having already elapsed) multiplied by 12 = 336°. In other words, the sun minus moon had to cover a further distance of

g)  336° minus 332° 33’ 58” = 3° 26’ 2”.  The speed of the moon minus the speed of the sun for the next 24 hours on that date was 14° 10’ 25”.  At this rate, the balance of 3° 26’ 2” was covered in 24/(14° 10’ 25”)=1h 41m 36sec multiplied by 3° 26’ 2” = 5hrs 48mt 53 se.

h)  Since the positions of the sun and moon were given for 5-30 am IST, by adding 5h 48m 53sec to the same, we get 11hr 18m 53sec as the ending IST of Krishna Trayodashi.  In fact this is almost the exact time given by all the panchangas of India as the ending moment of that tithi on that date.

i)  Obviously, Krishna Chaturdashi started then i.e. at 11hrs 19 mts. as on February 7, 2005 and by the same method it ended at about 7-38 am on February 8, 2005.

Why this Chaturdashi should be treated as Mahashivaratri, and why not the one prior to it or the one following it, is a topic which will be reserved for last of all points since unless the basics are understood, one cannot jump to higher realms!

Nakshatras will be dealt with after a few days.

Avtar Krishen Kaul<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->