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Each day the kaalpatra teaches one thing about the sky, the thing happening overhead that day. Tap any term and it explains itself.

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Glossary

Units of time

Tithi: Each day the Moon moves about 12° further from the Sun. That much distance is one tithi, so there are 30 from one new Moon to the next. A tithi follows the Moon, not the clock, so it can change in the middle of a day.; See it: The margin shows when today's tithi changes; at that moment the Moon crosses the next 12° step.
Paksha: The two halves of the month. After the new Moon it grows each night: Shukla paksha, the bright half. After the full Moon it shrinks: Krishna paksha, the dark half. Fifteen tithis each.; See it: Look at the Moon this evening: lit on the right and fattening nightly means Shukla paksha.
Tithi groups: The fifteen tithis repeat in fives: 1, 6, 11 are Nanda; 2, 7, 12 Bhadra; 3, 8, 13 Jaya; 4, 9, 14 Rikta; 5, 10, 15 Purna. The old muhurta books pair each group with a kind of work: beginnings are avoided on Rikta, completions suit Purna.; See it: Divide today's tithi number by five; the remainder tells its group.
Yoga (of the panchang): Add the Sun's and the Moon's positions, divide the total into 27 parts: that is the yoga, the panchang's fifth limb, with names like Siddhi, Shubha, Vyatipata. The "yogas" of a kundli are a different thing.; See it: Find the Yoga row in the full panchang; it shows when it changes.
Karana: Half a tithi is a karana, the Moon moving 6°. There are two in a day and eleven names in all; the one called Vishti is the Bhadra.; See it: Check the Karana row; if it says Vishti, that is the Bhadra.
Vara (weekday): The seven days are named for the seven classical planets: Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. The panchang's day starts at sunrise, not midnight, so at 4 a.m. it is still the previous vara.; See it: Sunrise is in the margin; a child born before it belongs to the previous weekday.
Masa (lunar month): One full turn of the Moon is a masa, about twenty-nine and a half days. In the north the month ends at the full Moon (purnimanta), in the south and west at the new Moon (amanta). Months are named for the nakshatra of their full Moon: Kartik's full Moon sits in Krittika.; See it: The margin shows both names; in Krishna paksha they differ.
Adhik masa: Twelve lunar months fall about 11 days short of the solar year. Every 32–33 months an extra month is added, the one in which the Sun changes no sign, so festivals stay tied to their seasons.; See it: In the calendar an "(adhik)" after a month name marks it.
Samvat: The traditional year count. Vikram Samvat runs 57 ahead of the Common Era and begins its year on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada; Shaka Samvat runs 78 behind. Both appear on the panchang.; See it: Both samvats sit under the day's title.
Ritu (season): Six seasons of two solar months each: Vasanta, Grishma, Varsha, Sharad, Hemanta, Shishira. They follow the Sun's sign, so they come at nearly the same dates each year.; See it: The season is in the day's title; Sharad Purnima's Moon belongs to it.
Ekadashi: The eleventh tithi of each half: two a month, twenty-four a year, each with its own name (Nirjala, Devshayani, Devutthana…). Vishnu's day and one of the oldest fasting traditions. Householders (Smarta) and Vaishnavas sometimes keep it a day apart.; See it: See the next Ekadashi and its name in the calendar.
Pradosh: The evening of Trayodashi, about two and a half hours after sunset: Shiva's time, twice a month. The word itself means the meeting of day and night.; See it: Sunset is in the margin; Pradosh begins from it.

The sky

Nakshatra: The Moon circles the sky in about 27 days. That path is cut into 27 equal parts, each named after its stars: the nakshatras. Each night the Moon moves on by about one.; See it: The stars beside the Moon tonight are today's nakshatra. Rohini's red star and Krittika's cluster are the easiest to spot.
Pada: Each nakshatra has four equal padas, or quarters. The Moon takes about six hours to cross one. The pada the Moon was in at birth gives the traditional first letter of a name.; See it: The four name letters on the kundli page: one per pada.
Rashi (Moon sign): The same path is also cut into 12 equal parts of 30°, the rashis, each about two and a quarter nakshatras wide. The Moon spends about two and a quarter days in one. In the Indian tradition "your rashi" is the Moon's sign at birth, not the Sun's.; See it: The margin's "Moon in …" is today's rashi; compare it with your birth rashi on the kundli page.
Sun sign (sidereal): The Sun stays about a month in each rashi. Here the rashis are measured from the stars (sidereal), about 24° behind the Western zodiac of newspapers; that is why Makar Sankranti falls on 14 January.; See it: See the Sun sign row in the full panchang and the next sankranti in the calendar.
Ayana: The year's two halves by the Sun's path. From Makar Sankranti the Sun rises a little further north each day: Uttarayana, lengthening days. From Karka Sankranti it drifts south: Dakshinayana, shortening days.; See it: Watch the sunrise time in the margin for a few days; it shifts a few minutes daily.
Sankranti: The Sun's passage from one rashi to the next, once a month. Makar Sankranti (around 14 January) is the most celebrated; Mesha Sankranti (Baisakhi) opens the solar year. The dates hardly move, since this is the Sun's doing, not the Moon's.; See it: Find the next sankranti in the calendar; the Sun sign changes that day.
Grahan (eclipse): When Earth's shadow falls on the Moon (a lunar eclipse, only at full Moon) or the Moon passes in front of the Sun (a solar eclipse, only at new Moon). It does not happen every month because the Moon's path is slightly tilted; the two points where it crosses the Sun's path were named Rahu and Ketu.; See it: Eclipses are marked in red in the calendar, with their times.

The day's windows

Muhurta: Day and night divided into thirty parts of about 48 minutes each: that is the original muhurta. In everyday speech it also means a chosen auspicious time for a task.; See it: Brahma muhurta and Abhijit muhurta are both measured this way.
Abhijit muhurta: The day's eighth muhurta, around local noon when the Sun is highest, about 48 minutes. Tradition counts it good for most work and leaves it out on Wednesdays.; See it: The margin gives today's Abhijit; it sits exactly midway between sunrise and sunset.
Brahma muhurta: About an hour and a half before sunrise, the night's twenty-ninth muhurta. Praised for waking, study and meditation.; See it: Its time today is in the full panchang's good windows.
Rahu kaal: Cut the daylight into eight equal parts. Each weekday has a fixed part called Rahu kaal: Monday the second, Saturday the third, Friday the fourth, Wednesday the fifth, Thursday the sixth, Tuesday the seventh, Sunday the eighth. Tradition starts nothing new in it and stops nothing already running.; See it: That is why it returns in the same weekly order; the clock time shifts with the length of the day.
Yamaganda: Like Rahu kaal, one eighth of the daylight fixed by the weekday, also avoided for new beginnings.; See it: Its time is under "Avoid" in the full panchang.
Gulika kaal: Another of the day's eight parts, linked with Saturn and watched more closely in the south.; See it: Under "Avoid" in the full panchang.
Choghadiya: Eight equal parts of the day and eight of the night, each about an hour and a half ("four ghadis"). Seven names rotate: Udveg, Char, Labh, Amrit, Kaal, Shubh, Rog. Amrit, Shubh and Labh are good, Char is fine, the rest are avoided.; See it: The planner lays the day out in choghadiyas; the green ones are good.
Hora: Twelve parts of the day and twelve of the night, each ruled by a planet; the first belongs to the day's own planet. The word "hour" descends from hora.; See it: See the Hora tab in the full panchang.
Panchak: The roughly five days when the Moon is in Kumbha and Meena, from the second half of Dhanishtha to Revati. Tradition postpones certain tasks in them, such as roofing a house or travelling south.; See it: When the margin says Panchak, the Moon is among those stars.
Bhadra: The time of the Vishti karana, every eighth half-tithi: about six or seven hours, eight times a month. Watched especially for Raksha Bandhan and Holika Dahan.; See it: The margin's Avoid line shows its hours when it falls.

Your kundli

Tara bala: Count today's nakshatra from your birth nakshatra and read it in cycles of nine: Janma, Sampat, Vipat, Kshema, Pratyari, Sadhaka, Vadha, Mitra, Atimitra. Sampat, Kshema, Sadhaka, Mitra and Atimitra count as favourable. An old, simple reading of the day, not a prediction.; See it: The margin's "your tara" line is exactly this count.
Chandra bala: Which sign from your birth Moon the Moon is in today: the 1st, 3rd, 6th, 7th, 10th and 11th count as favourable. The Moon changes sign every two and a quarter days, so this shifts every few days.; See it: Shown with "chandra bala" in the margin.
Chandrashtama: When the Moon is in the eighth sign from your birth Moon: once a month, about two and a quarter days. Tradition avoids starting new things in those hours. A time to pause, not to fear.; See it: The margin lists the hours when it falls.
Tithi birthday: The day your birth month and tithi return next year. The date wanders a few days each year because the lunar year is shorter than the solar one. Traditionally this, not the calendar date, was the birthday.; See it: The kundli page shows this year's; family members' appear in the margin on the day.
Lagna (ascendant): The sign rising on the eastern horizon at the moment of birth. It changes about every two hours, which is why the birth time matters. The kundli's twelve houses are counted from it.; See it: See "Lagna" in the kundli summary; with an uncertain time the possible lagnas are listed.
Dasha (Vimshottari): The tradition of dividing life into the turns of nine planets, 120 years in all, each with its own length (Venus 20, Saturn 19, Mercury 17…). The starting point comes from the Moon's nakshatra at birth; inside each mahadasha run shorter antardashas in the same order.; See it: The kundli's Dasha tab shows the running one and when it ends.
Gandmool: Six nakshatras where a sign boundary and a nakshatra boundary coincide: Ashwini, Ashlesha, Magha, Jyeshtha, Mula, Revati. For a birth in one, tradition prescribes a shanti on the 27th day, when the Moon returns to that nakshatra. A custom, not a cause for fear.; See it: A child's relationship card states it.