Pillar A — How it works

Published 2026-05-07 · Updated 2026-06-18 · By Avinash Chandan, Founder, Navamsha

Panchang Elements: Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana, and Choghadiya for Calendar Apps

Panchang is the Hindu almanac system that names each day's lunar and solar relationship — primarily through Tithi, Nakshatra, Yoga, Karana, and weekday (Vara) — used to pick muhurta, festivals, and ritual timing.

Calendar apps, temple portals, and muhurta pickers all consume the same primitives. Navamsha exposes them as separate endpoints and as a combined /panchang/full response, computed with Lahiri ayanamsa and Swiss Ephemeris at sub-50ms latency for daily widgets.

Tithi — lunar day

Tithi is the lunar day measured by the angular separation between the Moon and Sun. Each tithi spans 12° of elongation; there are 30 tithis in a lunar month (15 Shukla paksha, 15 Krishna paksha).

Tithi transitions can occur at any clock time, so calendar apps must store transition timestamps — not just the tithi name at midnight. Navamsha provides /panchang/tithi and transition helpers for precise UI.

Nakshatra — lunar mansion

Nakshatra divides the ecliptic into 27 equal segments of 13°20′ each. The Moon's sidereal longitude determines the active Nakshatra, which drives naming ceremonies, compatibility, and Dasha starting points.

Because Nakshatra depends on sidereal longitude, Lahiri ayanamsa alignment keeps your Panchang consistent with mainstream Indian calendars.

Yoga — Sun-Moon combination

Yoga is calculated from the sum of sidereal Sun and Moon longitudes, divided into 27 yogas (each spanning 13°20′ of combined motion). Certain yogas (like Vyatipata or Vaidhriti) are considered inauspicious for beginnings.

Karana — half-tithi

Karana is half of a tithi (6° of Sun-Moon separation). Eleven karanas cycle through the lunar month — seven repeating (Bava through Vishti) plus four fixed karanas that appear once per cycle.

Vara — weekday

Vara is the weekday, but Panchang tradition anchors the day at local sunrise — not civil midnight. Apps targeting Indian users should pass latitude, longitude, and timezone so weekday and tithi align with local sunrise boundaries.

Choghadiya — intraday auspicious windows

Choghadiya divides daytime and nighttime into eight segments each, ruled by planets (Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn). Each segment is labeled auspicious, inauspicious, or neutral for starting activities.

Choghadiya depends on local sunrise and sunset, so geolocation is mandatory. Use /panchang/choghadiya alongside the core elements for complete muhurta UI.

Fetching Panchang from the API

Request a single local datetime with coordinates and timezone. The full Panchang endpoint returns tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana, and weekday in one payload — ideal for home-screen calendar widgets.

curl -X POST "https://api.navamsha.in/api/v1/panchang/full" \
  -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{ "year": 1995, "month": 8, "date": 15, "hours": 14, "minutes": 30, "seconds": 0, "latitude": 19.0760, "longitude": 72.8777, "timezone": 5.5, "settings": { "observation_point": "topocentric", "ayanamsha": "lahiri", "language": "en" } }'

import httpx

payload = {
    "year": 2026, "month": 6, "date": 16,
    "hours": 8, "minutes": 0, "seconds": 0,
    "latitude": 19.0760, "longitude": 72.8777, "timezone": 5.5,
    "settings": {"ayanamsha": "lahiri", "observation_point": "topocentric"},
}
resp = httpx.post(
    "https://api.navamsha.in/api/v1/panchang/choghadiya",
    headers={"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json=payload,
)
print(resp.json()["output"])

See /apis/panchang for daily, hora, inauspicious period, and transition endpoints. New developers can start with 10,000 free calls per month at /getting-started.