Choghadiya Today in Patna

What is Choghadiya?

Choghadiya divides the time from sunrise to sunset into eight equal parts, and the night from sunset to the next sunrise into eight more. Each part is about four ghatis long — hence the name, from chau (four) and ghadiya — which is roughly an hour and a half: longer on summer days and shorter in winter. In Delhi a day Choghadiya runs from about 77 minutes in late December to about 105 minutes in late June.

Every Choghadiya is ruled by a planet, in a fixed order: the Sun (Udveg), Venus (Char), Mercury (Labh), the Moon (Amrit), Saturn (Kaal), Jupiter (Shubh) and Mars (Rog). The first Choghadiya of the day belongs to the weekday's own lord — Sunday starts with Udveg, Monday with Amrit, Tuesday with Rog, Wednesday with Labh, Thursday with Shubh, Friday with Char and Saturday with Kaal — and the eighth returns to it. The night starts five places further along the same order and keeps stepping five places.

Good and bad Choghadiyas

Amrit, Shubh and Labh are the good Choghadiyas and Char is neutral; Udveg, Kaal and Rog are avoided for anything new. Tradition still keeps a use for each:

• Udveg (Sun) — Avoid — though held fit for government work
• Char (Venus) — Neutral — best for travel
• Labh (Mercury) — Gain — business, trade, learning
• Amrit (Moon) — Best of all — any auspicious start
• Kaal (Saturn) — Avoid — traditionally only for work that stores up wealth
• Shubh (Jupiter) — Good — ceremonies, marriage, worship
• Rog (Mars) — Avoid — traditionally only for disputes and contests

Abhijit, Brahma Muhurat, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika

Abhijit Muhurat is the eighth of the day's fifteen muhurtas, the one that spans local noon, so it lasts about 48 minutes — a little longer in summer, a little shorter in winter. It is traditionally not used on Wednesdays, and the table says so on those days.

Brahma Muhurat is the fourteenth of the night's fifteen muhurtas. It ends one muhurta before sunrise and itself lasts one muhurta, so it begins roughly an hour and a half before sunrise — earlier on long winter nights.

Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika Kaal are each one eighth of the daytime, fixed by the weekday. Because the day Choghadiyas are the same eighths, each of these always falls exactly on one Choghadiya, and the table marks which. Many families pass over a good Choghadiya when Rahu Kaal falls on it.

Why the timings depend on your city

Every period here is counted from the local sunrise and sunset, not from 6 AM. Sunrise in Kolkata comes about an hour before sunrise in Ahmedabad, so the same Choghadiya starts about an hour apart in the two cities although both clocks show IST. Pick your city, or use your location, for timings to the minute.

How the times are calculated: the Sun's position comes from the VSOP87 planetary theory, and sunrise and sunset are the moments its upper edge meets the horizon, allowing for atmospheric refraction. They agree with the Swiss Ephemeris to within a few seconds, and every time is rounded to the nearest minute.