Panchanga: Introduction

Introduction

Panchanga is made of two words – Pancha meaning five and Anga means limbs, so it normally means something with five limbs. True to its name Panchanga is composed of five different elements namely Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana. Then a question comes, limbs of whom? Limbs of time – In ancient times, Panchanga was used to keep the record of time, the calendar that we use now is Georgian and is of foreign origin [If we forget the idea of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam for a while], Panchanga can be safely termed as Indian Calendar System. Before we jump to a technical astrological discussion on Panchanga let’s have some knowledge about Georgian calendar and history of the calendar.

Modern calendar and history of the calendar: Julian vs Georgian

From time immemorial calendars were basically soli-lunar [based on movements of Sun and Moon] but with the advent of Kaliyuga and rule of kings with low intellect, its nature changed from soli-lunar to Solar only. Researchers of historians have found marks of lunar calendars on bones of animals [Alexnder Marshack – 25,000BC] and in caves [Michael Rappenglueck – 15,000-year-old cave] which makes us think that in ancient times Lunar calendar was prominently used [because of moon’s increment and decrement per day it is easy to remember and observe] but the problem with lunar calendar is that after some time it loses its synchronization with seasons which makes it difficult to use this calendar for prediction purposes on future seasonal trends. As we know that knowledge is something which is always progressing until it is disturbed by some great changes [such as the advent of Kaliyuga, in which case it may also decline], it is easy to presume that as human society progressed calendar was made Luni-Solar/Soli-Lunar which ends the discrepancy of Seasons.

Some relevant portions Quoted from Wikipedia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calendars

A larger number of calendar systems of the Ancient Near East appear in the Iron Age archaeological record, based on the Assyrian and Babylonian calendar. This includes the calendar of the Persian Empire, which in turn gave rise to the Zoroastrian calendar as well as the Hebrew calendar.

Calendars in antiquity were usually lunisolar, depending on the introduction of intercalary months to align the solar and the lunar years. This was mostly based on observation, but there may have been early attempts to model the pattern of intercalation algorithmically, as evidenced in the fragmentary 2nd-century Coligny calendar. Nevertheless, the Roman calendar contained very ancient remnants of a pre-Etruscan 10-month solar year.

The Roman calendar was reformed by Julius Caesar in 45 BCE. The Julian calendar was no longer dependent on the observation of the new moon but simply followed an algorithm of introducing a leap day every four years. This created a dissociation of the calendar month from the lunation.

In the 11th century in Persia, a calendar reform led by Khayyam was announced in 1079, where the length of the year was measured as 365.24219858156 days. Given that the length of the year is changing in the sixth decimal place over a person’s lifetime, this is outstandingly accurate. For comparison, the length of the year at the end of the 19th century was 365.242196 days, while today it is 365.242190 days.

The Gregorian calendar was introduced as a refinement of the Julian calendar in 1582 and is today in worldwide use as the de facto calendar for secular purposes.

Ancient India
Timekeeping was important to Vedic rituals, and Jyotisha was the Vedic era field of tracking and predicting the movements of astronomical bodies in order to keep time, in order to fix the day and time of these rituals. This study was one of the six ancient Vedangas, or ancillary science connected with the Vedas – the scriptures of Hinduism.

Hindu calendar, sometimes referred to as Panchanga, is a collective term for the various lunisolar calendars traditionally used in Hinduism. They adopt a similar underlying concept for timekeeping, but differ in their relative emphasis to moon cycle or the solar cycle, the names of months and when they consider the New Year to start. The ancient Hindu calendar is similar in conceptual design to the Jewish calendar but different from the Gregorian calendar. Unlike Gregorian calendar which adds additional days to lunar month to adjust for the mismatch between twelve lunar cycles (354 lunar days) and nearly 365 solar days, the Hindu calendar maintains the integrity of the lunar month, but insert an extra full month by complex rules, every few years, to ensure that the festivals and crop-related rituals fall in the appropriate season.

The Hindu calendars have been in use in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times and remain in use by the Hindus in India and Nepal particularly to set the Hindu festival dates. Early Buddhist and Jain communities of India adopted the ancient Hindu calendar, later Vikrami calendar and then local Buddhist calendars. Buddhist and Jain festivals continue to be scheduled according to a lunar system in the lunisolar calendar.

Roman Empire
The old Roman year had 304 days divided into 10 months, beginning with March. However, the ancient historian Livy gave credit to the second ancient Roman king Numa Pompilious for devising a calendar of 12 months. The extra months Ianuarius and Februarius had been invented, supposedly by Numa Pompilious as stop-gaps. Julius Caesar realized that the system had become inoperable, so he affected drastic changes in the year of his third consulship. The New Year in 709 AUC began on 1 January and ran over 365 days until 31 December. Further adjustments were made under Augustus, who introduced the concept of the “leap year” in 737 AUC (AD 4). The resultant Julian calendar remained in almost universal use in Europe until 1582.

Marcus Terentius Varro introduced the Ab urbe condita epoch, assuming a foundation of Rome in 753 BC. The system remained in use during the early medieval period until the widespread adoption of the Dionysian era in the Carolingian period. In the Roman Empire, the AUC year could be used alongside the consular year, so that the consulship of Quintus Fufius Calenus and Publius Vatinius could be determined as 707 AUC (or 47 BC), the third consulship of Caius Julius Caesar, with Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, as 708 AUC (or 46 BC), and the fourth consulship of Gaius Julius Caesar as 709 AUC (or 45 BC).

The seven-day Week has a tradition reaching back to the Ancient Near East, but the introduction of the “planetary week” which remains in modern use dates to the Roman Empire period (see also names of the days of the week).

Indo-Islamic calendars
During the Mughal rule, land taxes were collected from Bengali people according to the Islamic Hijri calendar. This calendar was a lunar calendar, and its new year did not coincide with the solar agricultural cycles. According to some sources, Mughal Emperor Akbar asked his royal astronomer Fathullah Shirazi to create a new calendar by combining the lunar Islamic calendar and solar Hindu calendar already in use, and this was known as Fasholi shan (harvest calendar). According to Amartya Sen, Akbar’s official calendar “Tarikh-ilahi” with the zero years of 1556 CE was a blend of pre-existing Hindu and Islamic calendars. It was not used much in India outside of Akbar’s Mughal court, and after his death, the calendar he launched was abandoned. However, adds Sen, there are traces of the “Tarikh-ilahi” that survive in the Bengali calendar. Some historians attribute the Bengali calendar to the 7th-century Hindu king Shashanka.

Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used civil calendar in the world. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The calendar spaces leap years to make the average year 365.2425 days long, approximating the 365.2422-day tropical year that is determined by the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. The rule for leap years is as follows:

Every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the year 2000 is.

The calendar was developed as a refinement of the Julian calendar, shortening the average year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes. To deal with the 10 days of accumulated drift, the date was advanced so that 4 October 1582 was followed by 15 October 1582. There was no discontinuity in the cycle of weekdays or of the Anno Domini calendar era. The reform also altered the lunar cycle used by the Church to calculate the date for Easter, restoring it to the time of the year as originally celebrated by the early Church.

The reform was adopted initially by the Catholic countries of Europe. Over the next three centuries, the Protestant and Eastern Orthodox countries also moved to what they called the Improved calendar, with Greece being the last European country to adopt the calendar in 1923. To unambiguously specify a date during the transition period, dual dating is sometimes used to specify both Old Style and New Style dates. Due to globalization in the 20th century, the calendar has also been adopted by most non-European countries for civil purposes. The calendar era carries the secular name of the Common Era.

Indian National Calendar 

The Indian national calendar, sometimes called the Shalivahana Shaka calendar, is used along with the Vikram Samvat calendar. It is used, alongside the Gregorian calendar, by The Gazette of India, in news broadcasts by All India Radio and in calendars and communications issued by the Government of India.

The term may also ambiguously refer to the Hindu calendar; the Shalivahana era is also commonly used by other calendars.

The historic Shalivahana era calendar is still widely used. It has years that are solar sidereal (after periodic adjustments) and has lunar months. The official Saka uses a tropical solar year.

The calendar months follow the signs of the tropical zodiac rather than the sidereal zodiac normally used with the Hindu calendar.

Chaitra has 30 days and starts on March 22, except in leap years, when it has 31 days and starts on March 21. The months in the first half of the year all have 31 days, to take into account the slower movement of the sun across the ecliptic at this time.

The names of the months are derived from older, Hindu lunisolar calendars, so variations in spelling exist, and there is a possible source of confusion as to what calendar a date belongs to.

Years are counted in the Saka era, which starts its year 0 in the year 78 of the Common Era. To determine leap years, add 78 to the Saka year – if the result is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, then the Saka year is a leap year as well. Its structure is just like the Persian calendar.

Senior Indian Astrophysicist Meghnad Saha was the head of the Calendar Reform Committee under the aegis of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Other members of the Committee were: A. C. Banerjee, K. K. Daftari, J. S. Karandikar, Gorakh Prasad, R. V. Vaidya and N. C. Lahiri. It was Saha’s effort, which led to the formation of the Committee. The task before the Committee was to prepare an accurate calendar based on scientific study, which could be adopted uniformly throughout India. It was a mammoth task. The Committee had to undertake a detailed study of different calendars prevalent in different parts of the country. There were thirty different calendars. The task was further complicated by the fact that religion and local sentiments were integral to those calendars. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in his preface to the Report of the Committee, published in 1955, wrote: “They (different calendars) represent past political divisions in the country. Now that we have attained Independence, it is obviously desirable that there should be a certain uniformity in the calendar for our civic, social, and other purposes, and this should be done on a scientific approach to this problem.”

Usage started officially at 1 Chaitra 1879, Saka Era, or 22 March 1957. However, government officials seem to largely ignore the New Year’s Day of this calendar in favour of the religious calendar.

S.No	Month [Sanskrit]	Length	Start Date [Gregorian]	Tropical Zodiac
1	Chaitra	30/31	March 22/21	Aries
2	Vaishakha	31	Apr-21	Taurus
3	Jyestha	31	May-22	Gemini
4	Ashadha	31	Jun-22	Cancer
5	Shravana	31	Jul-23	Leo
6	Bhaadra	31	Aug-23	Virgo
7	Ashwin	30	Sep-23	Libra
8	Kartika	30	Oct-23	Scorpio
9	Agarhan	30	Nov-22	Sagittarius
10	Paushya	30	Dec-22	Capricorn
11	Magha	30	Jan-21	Aquarius
12	Phalguna	30	Feb-20	Pisces

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From these two topics presented above [History of Calendar and Indian National Calendar] it is very clear that what we use today is not completely Vedic either in origin or in practice.

As per Vedic thought, we come to know that Veda’s are of the opinion that time is cyclical which repeats itself [Yuga ends new Yuga starts, again Avatars come etc]. I will write an article on Vedic time keeping soon which will include Day of Brahma, Day of Gods, Day of Pitrus and then Day of Human’s, it will also deal with how this Kalpa, Manvantara, Samvastsara is decided.

In this article, I wish to deal with Panchanga elements of Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana only. In this article, I will only deal with their calculations and my basis for making advanced techniques on them. First, let we understand how these five limbs of Panchanga are calculated.

Panchanga: Calculations

Tithi – This is the angular distance between Sun and Moon, When Sun and Moon are conjunct it is the start of first Tithi [This is a very clear indication that only Amanta Masa are to be used and Shuklanta is just an interpolation – Amanta means Amavasya starts months and Shuklanta means Purnima starts the month]. When the distance between Sun and Moon reaches 12 degrees it is the apex of the first Tithi, with the difference exceeding to 13th-degree stars next Tithi. There is a formula to calculate Tithi given below

Longitude of Moon – Longitude of Sun / 12 Degree
[Longitude of Moon minus Longitude of Sun divided by 12 degrees gives the Tithi]

Because the zodiac is of 360 degrees, division by 12 gives us 30 Tithi’s only [12X30=360]. 15 of them falls in the bright phase of Moon whereas rest 15 falls in the dark phase of Moon. It is like this, with Start of first Tithi Moon starts moving away from Sun and gains brightness [Moon’s light is just a reflection of Sun’s light, the farther Moon is from Sun, longer will be their angle giving better brightness to Moon] – remember this point, this is the basis of my search for relevant shloka of technique], on the 15th Tithi, Moon is at farthest distance from Sun in 7th sign making a difference of 180 degrees and at that time Moon shins brightest, after this 15th tithi, because zodiac is round and Sun moves slowly as compared to Moon [Sun moves one degree per day whereas Moon moves 13 degrees per Day, making moon 12 times faster than Sun] distance keeps on increasing [If we follow a linear measurement from Sun to Moon] but angle between them starts decreasing causing Moon to lose it’s brightness day by day, on 30th day he is once again in conjunction to Sun having no brightness at all.

The First 15 Tithi when Moon is moving away from Sun is known as Shukla Paksha, from 15th to 30th Tithi when Moon comes closer to Sun after achieving his maximum distance from Sun is known as Krishna Paksha. For Moon, his most important strength is his distance from Sun. In First five days of Shukla Paksha and last five days of Krishna Paksha Moon is considered very weak, that is Moon is weak when one is born in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th or 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th or 30th Tithi.

Tithi is termed/counted as Shukla Pratipada [1st tithi of Shukla Paksha] Shukla Dwitiya [2nd] Shukla Tritiya [3rd] Shukla Chaturthi [4th] Shukla Panchami [5th] Shukla Shasti [6th] Shukla Saptami [7th] Shukla Ashtami [8th] Shukla Navami [9th] Shukla Dashami [10th] Shukla Ekadashi [11th] Shukla Dwadashi [12th] Shukla Trayodashi [13th] Shukla Chaturdashi [14th] Poornima [15th Tithi – after this starts Krishna Paksha] Krishna Pratipada [16th] Krishna Dwitiya [17th] Krishna Tritiya [18th] Krishna Chaturthi [19th] Krishna Panchami [20th] Krishna Shasti [21st] Krishna Saptami [22nd] Krishna Ashtami [23rd] Krishna Navami [24th] Krishna Dashami [25th] Krishna Ekadashi [26th] Krishna Dwadashi [27th] Krishna Trayodashi [28th] Krishna Chaturdashi [29th] and Amavasya [30th Tithi]

Pratipada means one, Dwitiya means two, Tritiya means three, Chaturthi means four, Panchami means five, Shasti means six, Saptami means seven, Ashtami means eight, Navami means ninth, Dashami means 10th, Ekadashi means 11th, Dwadashi means 12th, Trayodashi means 13th and Chaturdashi means 14th. Purnima and Amavasya are 15th and 30th Tithi respectively marked with different names to indicate that from this point the course of Tithi changes from Krishna to Shukla or Shukla to Krishna.

Vara – Vara means weekday, In Vedic Astrology weekday, is considered from Sunrise to next Sunrise, To know weekday now is very easy with help of calendars, it needs no calculations. Weekdays are always in an order which is derived from Hora which itself is derived from the speed of planets.

There are Seven Vara’s of Sun [Sunday] Moon [Monday] Mars [Tuesday] Mercury [Wednesday] Jupiter [Thrusday] Venus [Friday] and Saturn [Saturday]

People loosely translate Hora as Hour but it is not So, In a day there are 24 Hours and 24 Hora’s this is the reason for confusion. Sun may rise at 6 AM or at 05:30 AM depending on the season, it makes no impact on time as Hour, the extent of one hour being 60 minutes and 3600 seconds is same. But 24 Hora’s are completed before Sunrise no matter Sunrise happens at 6:00 AM or 5:30 AM. So basically one hora is “Distance between one sunrise to next Sunrise (known as Kaalmaan; Dinmaan + Ratrimaan) divided by 24”

If planets are serialised in a descending order based on their speed it will be Saturn-Jupiter-Mars-Sun[Earth]-Venus-Mercury and Moon; here Saturn is slowest and Moon is fastest. This makes a Hora chart. It means that hora can start with any planet but this order will always be followed. The Hora at sunrise decides lord of the Day, it means that at Sunday first Hora will be of Sun. Understand it this way, If there are 7 planets and 24 Hora’s in a day then it means three complete rounds will be done in a day [7X3=21] and then 4th Hora will prevail at next Sunrise [Because after completion of third round, same planets hora will be 22nd hora, 2nd planets hora will be 23rd hora, 3rd planets hora will be 24th hora and 4th planets will hora will be 25th hora which will make the first hora of next day. Understand this with table given below.

Hora	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
2	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
3	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
4	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
5	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
6	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
7	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
8	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
9	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
10	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
11	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
12	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
13	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
14	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
15	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
16	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
17	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
18	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
19	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
20	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
21	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon
22	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
23	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
24	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars

The above list will make clear what I want to say, this is the basis behind the calculation of weekdays. This list was included owing to the importance of Hora Lord in judging effects of Day Lord which will be taught in Panchanga: Vara article.

Nakshatra – the overemphasised and overused element of Panchanga is Nakshatra. The zodiac being 360degree is basic mathematics, this 360 degree is divided into several parts with a different formula for predictions. It is divided into 12 parts making a Rashi, it is divided into 27 parts to make a Nakshatra. Rashi is very important, it is again subdivided to make finer divisions such as Navansha [which is 9 divisions of a Sign]. It is like everyone is born in some time, but this division makes it easy to quickly find in which time one is born, going with this philosophy horoscope is nothing but the celestial clock divided into some comprehensible parts and drawn on a paper in a two-dimensional diagram. Drawing it is easy but to read the multidimensional time with help of a two-dimensional image is sometimes difficult, this is the reason behind the complexity of astrology.

When 360 degrees of the zodiac is divided into 27 parts [sometimes in 28 parts for some special purpose] one part comes to 13 degrees 20 minutes, this is the span of a Nakshatra [360/27=13.3333333333]. There are 27 Nakshatras which is mapped into this 360 degree [not in Rashi’s but Nakshatra’s are mapped directly into zodiac is what we need to understand] namely Ashwani-Bharani-Krittika-Rohini-Mrigashira-Adra-Punarvashu-Pushya-Ashlesha-Magha-Purvaphalguni-Uttaraphalguni-Hasta-Chitra-Swati-Vishakha-Anuradha-Jyestha-Moola-Purvashadha-Uttarashadha-Shravana-Dhanistha-Shatbhisa-Purvabhadraprad-Uttarabhadraprad-Revati. They are mapped from 0 degrees of the zodiac which makes nakshatra starting point and Rashi starting point coincide.

Now from this much information, we understand that there are two divisions of zodiac one of Nakshatra [27 division] and another of Rashi [30 division]. They, both when viewed together, give birth to some special patterns which are known as Gandanta Points etc. We will deal with them in detail in Panchanga: Nakshatra article and again in Panchanga: Flaw article.

I will add a point here which will help us later that although they are mapped from 0 degrees of the zodiac when another layer of Rashi is added over this division of zodiac into 27 parts it gives birth to a third image [it is like mixing of two colours give birth to third colour] which is sometimes use to start calculation of these 27 divisions from different points. For example, Vimshottari Dasha is calculated from Krittika Nakshatra, it is like although Nakshatra mapping starts from Ashwini Nakshatra, for sake of timing events in Vimshottari  Dasha it is seen from Krittika Nakshatra which is 26.40 of Mesha. Sometimes it is seen from Moola Nakshatra which is 00.00 degree of Sagittarius etc.

Yoga – Yoga is exactly opposite of what Tithi is, Tithi is a subtraction of longitude of Sun and Moon whereas Yoga is an addition of longitude of Sun and Moon. It is derived with a formula, given below –

Longitude of Sun + Longitude of Moon [in minutes] / 800
This is Longitude of Sun plus longitude of Moon in minutes divided by 800 minutes.

There are two differences between Yoga and Tithi, they are – Yoga is an addition of Sun and Moon whereas Tithi is the subtraction of Moon and Sun, in Tithi Moon is prominent whereas in Yoga Sun gets the first place. Another difference is Tithi is calculated in terms of degrees [12 Degree is the distance of a Tithi] whereas Yoga is calculated in terms of Minutes.

Another striking point is although Yoga is completely opposite of what a Tithi is, Yoga is based on distance/value of a Nakshatra [The 800 given above in formula is derived thus 13 Degrees and 20 Minutes is the value of a Nakshatra, Now convert 30 Degrees into minutes which will make 13X60=780; add 20 to it, it will make 780+20=800].

This gives us a hint that Yoga is a mixture of Tithi and Nakshatra elements, we will study this in detail in Panchanga: Yoga article.

Yoga’s are 27 in number [corresponding to 27 Nakshatra’s] they are Vishkumbha-Priti-Ayushman-Saubhagya-Shobhana-Atiganda-Sukarma-Dhriti-Shula-Ganda-Vriddhi-Dhruva-Vyaghat-Harshana-Vajra-Siddhi-Vyatipata-Variyan-Prigha-Shiva-Siddha-Sadhya-Shubha-Shukla-Brahma-Indra-Vaidhriti.

Karana – Karana is half of a Tithi, meaning 6 degrees. It has no special calculation, the duration of a Tithi is divided into two parts to make a Karana.

There are eleven Karana’s namely: Bava-Balava-Kaulava-Taitila-Gara-Vanij-Vishti-Shakuni-Chatuspada-Naga and Kimastughna. In these 11 Karana’s first 7 are movable [from Bava to Vishti] which repeats 8 times in a complete Month [of 30 Tithis] making it 7X8=56. Last Four Karana’s are fixed which only appear once a month starting from second half of Krishna Chaturdashi and ending at First half of Shukla Pratipada. It means the second half of Krishna Chaturdashi have Shakuni Karana, First half of Amavasya have Chatuspada Karana, Second half of Amavasya have Naga Karana and First half of Shukla Pratipada have Kimasthughna Karana. After this from the second half of Krishna Pratipada starts Bava Karana which is followed by six consecutive Karana’s and after completion, the cycle again starts from Bava to Vishti and repeat itself eight times.  See the table given below for elucidation.

S.No	Tithi	Part	Karana
1	Shukla Pratipada	1	Kimasthughna
2		2	Bava
3	Dweeteya	1	Baalava
4		2	Kaulava
5	Treeteya	1	Taitil
6		2	Gar
7	Chaturthi	1	Vanija
8		2	Vishti/Bhadra
9	Panchami	1	Bava
10		2	Baalava
11	Shasthi	1	Kaulava
12		2	Taitil
13	Saptami	1	Gar
14		2	Vanija
15	Ashtami	1	Vishti/Bhadra
16		2	Bava
17	Navami	1	Baalava
18		2	Kaulava
19	Dasami	1	Taitil
20		2	Gar
21	Ekadashi	1	Vanija
22		2	Vishti/Bhadra
23	Dwadashi	1	Bava
24		2	Baalava
25	Trayodashi	1	Kaulava
26		2	Taitil
27	Chaturdashi	1	Gar
28		2	Vanija
29	Poornima	1	Vishti/Bhadra
30		2	Bava
31	Krishna Pratipada	1	Baalava
32		2	Kaulava
33	Dweeteya	1	Taitil
34		2	Gar
35	Treeteya	1	Vanija
36		2	Vishti/Bhadra
37	chaturthi	1	Bava
38		2	Baalava
39	Panchami	1	Kaulava
40		2	Taitil
41	Shasthi	1	Gar
42		2	Vanija
43	Saptami	1	Vishti/Bhadra
44		2	Bava
45	Ashtami	1	Baalava
46		2	Kaulava
47	Navami	1	Taitil
48		2	Gar
49	Dasami	1	Vanija
50		2	Vishti/Bhadra
51	Ekadashi	1	Bava
52		2	Baalava
53	Dwadashi	1	Kaulava
54		2	Taitil
55	Trayodashi	1	Gar
56		2	Vanija
57	Chaturdashi	1	Vishti/Bhadra
58		2	Shakuni
59	Amavasya	1	Chatuspada
60		2	Naaga

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Now a very important point which I want to make here is a careful reading of Panchanga elements will make it clear that there are three fundamental limbs of Panchanga which are Tithi, Vara and Nakshatra, other two elements namely Yoga and Karana are extension of Nakshatra and Tithi principle only. 

Shri K.V. Abhyankar make a comment that Tithi was the prime component to measure time in ancient India then the concept of Vara was made because daily Sunrise and Sunset can’t be ignored, after that the concept of Nakshatra was developed because mere timekeeping was turning into something which can be told as study of time and prediction of coming times of a person or say study of Time and Karma done in time [by reverse engineering], then Shri Abhyankar writes that Yoga and Karana were added later keeping this thing in mind that sometimes Moon took more time than usual to cross a Nakshatra [Yoga] and sometimes a Tithi’s duration was either increased or decreased again due to unstable movement of Moon which gave birth to concept of Karana. [This is my understanding of relevant part of Shri Abhyankar’s preface of his Jaimini Sutra’s and not a literal reproduction of the same]. 

Here we also notice that although all elements except Vara is based on Movement of Moon whereas only Vara is based on the movement of Sun/Hora or say rotation of the earth. Rotation of earth causes day and night, Sun is still, but in Vedic astrology, Sun is seen equal to earth, any movement of Sun in astrology is astronomically movement of Earth only. 

Having understood this we come to a conclusion that the main element of Panchanga is Tithi only, other are elements added over time. 

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Predicting from Panchanga

In some books such as Jataka Parijata, Jata Sara Deep and Maansagari etcetera are given Predictions from Panchanga, but that is too General. For example, Jataka Parijata says that one born in Pratipada Tithi will be very industrious and lead a virtuous life. It is good to read and appreciate the use of Panchanga by Vaidyanath [Author of Jataka Parijata] but to make a prediction this is not sufficient [as per my personal views].

In my humble opinion, things like these such as effects of birth in the different ascendant, different Tithi or effect of Sun in 1st house or effect of lord of 3rd in 4th house is just an example one should not take them literally but must try to understand the hidden principle over which the example is developed. I am also of the opinion that Yoga’s given in astrological classics are real gems which hide in themselves predictive principles which have to be decoded by the student of astrology.

With these two ideas in my mind, I started searching for the Yoga which contains the formula for prediction from Panchanga. After having this very clear in my mind that Panchanga is the relationship between Sun and Moon [because these two never become retrograde so they were chosen with the idea to eliminate any error which can be there if they also had retrograde motion] I started looking in chapters dealing with Sun and Moon Yoga’s. It was also in my mind that Panchanga is the first element of calculation of a Birth Chart.

So I started looking into classics and found that when it comes to Yoga’s sages first deal with Lunar Yogas followed by a discussion on Solar Yoga’s, Nabhasa Yoga’s [Sometimes they are discussed before lunar yoga’s – because they give effect through life irrespective of Dasha] and then other Yoga’s.

The first yoga in Chandra Yoga Adhyaya [Chapter dealing with Yoga’s formed by Moon] discusses the relative distance between Sun and Moon. This Yoga as per me hides in itself the secret to Panchanga interpretation. The Shloka is given below.

सहस्त्रराश्मितश्चचन्द्रे कन्टकादिगते क्रमात्I
धनधीनैैपुणादीनि न्यूनमध्योत्तमानि हिII
सहस्त्र [100] रश्मि [Rays] तश्च [having] चन्द्रे [Moon] कन्टकादि [Kendra etc.] गते [Going/Moving/Occupying] क्रमात् [Serially] धन [Money] धी [Intelligence] नैपुना [Accomplishment] दीनि [Gives] न्यून [Least] मध्यो [Middle] त्त्मानि [Best] हि

With the use of the term 100 -Rashmi Sun is referred to, this Shloka says “Moon’s movement in Kendra [1-4-7-10] Panphara [2-5-8-11] and Aapoklima [3-6-9-12] from Sun gives Money, Intelligence and Accomplishment in the least, middle and best quantities to a native.

Now, try to understand this with the information provided above. We need to remember two things

1. At Amavasya Moon will be in Kendra to Sun [To be completely technical take Sun at 15 degrees of Ascendant] in the Same house [1] to Sun.
2. In Panchanga only three limbs can be taken as innovative, that are Tithi, Vara and Nakshatra, rest two Yoga and Karana are only advanced formula’s based on Nakshatra and Tithi respectively.

From this yoga [This yoga is given in every classic of Vedic Astrology, I have found no classic of Vedic Astrology where this Uttam-Madhyam-Adham yoga (technical name) are not given], I have figured out that Tithi indicates Wealth, Vara indicates Intelligence and Nakshatra indicates accomplishments.

After some time I came across another Shloka, which is basically “effects of listening to Panchanga” but an intelligent interpretation will make it sound like that knowledge of these elements of Panchanga will cause these things to happen. Astrologically I took this to mean that knowledge of these limbs of Panchanga will help an astrologer to know about these things from a birth chart. The Shloka is produced below.

तिथिवारं च नक्षत्रं योगः करणमेव च I यत्रैतत्पन्चकं स्पष्टं पञ्चाङ्गं तन्निगध्यतेII
जानाति काले पञ्चाङ्गं तस्य पापं न विद्यते I तिथेस्तु श्रियमाप्नोति वारादायुष्यवर्धनम्II
नक्षत्राद्धरते पापं योगाद्रोगनिवारणम I करणात्कार्यसिद्धिः स्यात्पञ्चाङ्गफलमुच्यतेII
पञ्चाङ्गस्य फलं श्रुत्वा गन्गास्नानफलं लभेत

A book where the mathematically accurate calculation of Tithi, Vara, Nakshatra, Yoga and Karana is given is known as Panchanga. Whoever knows about this limb of time sin don’t touch him. Tithi gives Shri [Wealth/Auspicies], Vara gives long life, Nakshatra makes one free of sins whereas Yoga ends diseases and Karana gives accomplishment in works, these are the effects of Panchanga. Listening to the effects of Panchanga is akin to having a bath in the Ganges.

Use of the word स्यात्पञ्चाङ्गफलमुच्यते in Shloka, which means “these are the effects of Panchanga” led me to relate this with the previously given “Uttama-Madhyam-Adhama” yoga’s and also gave me the idea to use Panchanga in predictions/chart interpretation.

owing to the diversity of Sanskrit language it needs some explanation. Firstly it was said that Tithi Indicates wealth, Vara indicates intelligence and Nakshatra indicates Accomplishment whereas now it is said that Tithi indicates Wealth [it is same in both Shloka’s given above – this also confirms that I am going in the right direction] Vara indicates Intelligence and then it is said that it gives longevity so it means Vara gives us that intelligence which helps us to increase our longevity [it is the intelligence to eat right food in right proportion, control over breath etc.] Nakshatra is said to indicate accomplishment and then it is said to save one from Sins [this means Nakshatra indicates accomplishment in work which saves us from Sins, it is careless attitude in our Karma’s/works which makes Sin] Yoga and Karana is simple to understand. 

Thus, according to me [Shubham Alock], it means that tithi indicates wealth [blessings to be precise about words]; Vara indicates longevity [and flaws to it]; Nakshatra indicates Sins [it is very surprising to note that Nakshatra also means non-destructible; Sin is also indestructible, Sin which is Bad Karma’s in Vedic Philosophy cannot be destroyed but have to be suffered to get rid of it – This another similarity also confirms that I am on the right path]; Yoga indicates diseases and Karana indicates accomplishment [will I be successful or not; again it is very interesting to note that in nowadays, In kaliyuga success is equivalent to/similar to the amount of money one possesses – Remember Karana is half of a Tithi, many can be rich but not everyone can be successful].  

This is just an introduction, with this article I wish to start an eight article series on Panchanga where we will deal with all five limbs of Panchanga separately with there predictive implications and two more articles on Panchanga Flaw [which gives an inherent weakness to a birth-chart snatching its strength away] and Vedic Timekeeping.

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श्री रामकृष्णाय नमो नमः