Aaj Ka Panchang — Varanasi

A panchang is the Hindu almanac for a day, made of five limbs (pancha anga): tithi (lunar day), vaara (weekday), nakshatra (the moon's constellation), yoga and karana. Together they decide which parts of the day are considered auspicious for a ritual, a journey or a new undertaking.

Rahu Kaal is one eighth of the daylight span, falling at a different position each weekday. New undertakings, travel, purchases and signing agreements are traditionally deferred past it. Pujas already under way are not interrupted, and remedial rituals for Rahu are sometimes performed deliberately during it.

Every muhurat is derived from local sunrise and sunset. Sunrise in Kolkata is around forty minutes earlier than in Delhi and over an hour earlier than in western Gujarat, so Rahu Kaal, Abhijit and Brahma Muhurat all shift with it. Tithi, nakshatra and yoga are astronomical and change at the same instant everywhere, but the clock time of that instant depends on your timezone.

Abhijit is the eighth of the fifteen muhurtas of daylight, the one straddling solar noon. It is considered broadly auspicious and is often used when no other favourable window is available. It is traditionally avoided on Wednesdays and for travel southwards.

Tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana are computed from the sun's and moon's positions for the date you are viewing, and sunrise, sunset, moonrise and moonset from your city's latitude and longitude. Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika divide the daylight span into eight parts and take the part fixed for that weekday.