Shunya
Search Shunya
Articles, research notes, glossary terms and the texts library.
43 results for “पंचांग”
Glossary
20- Yoga (of the pañcāṅga)योगPanchanga limb from the sum of solar and lunar longitudes.Panchanga
- Adhika māsaअधिकमासIntercalary lunar month inserted when no saṅkrānti falls within it.Panchanga
- Bhadrā (Viṣṭi karaṇa)भद्राThe Viṣṭi karaṇa, marked in almanacs as unsuitable for beginnings.Panchanga
- Caughaḍiyāचौघड़ियाEight daytime and eight night-time divisions used in popular almanacs.Panchanga
- Rāhu kālaराहुकालOne-eighth of daytime, assigned to Rāhu by weekday.Panchanga
- Sūrya Siddhāntaसूर्यसिद्धान्तClassical astronomical treatise underlying many traditional almanacs.Siddhanta
- AyanāṃśaअयनांशThe precessional offset between tropical and sidereal zodiacs.Siddhanta
- EkādaśīएकादशीThe eleventh tithi of each fortnight, observed as a vrata.Panchanga
- Pañcakaपञ्चकThe Moon's passage through the last five nakshatras, Dhaniṣṭhā to Revatī.Panchanga
- Pradoṣaप्रदोषTwilight on trayodaśī, observed as a vrata dedicated to Śiva.Panchanga
- ṚtuऋतुSeason: one of six two-month seasons of the year.Panchanga
- Sāḍhe-sātīसाढ़ेसातीSaturn's 7½-year transit through the 12th, 1st and 2nd from the Moon.Jyotish · Hora
- Saṃvatसंवत्An era or year-count, such as Vikrama or Śaka.Panchanga
- Saṅkrāntiसङ्क्रान्तिThe Sun's entry into a sidereal rasi; twelve each year.Panchanga
- SāyanaसायनTropical zodiac, measured from the moving vernal equinox.Siddhanta
- Siddhāntaसिद्धान्तMathematical astronomy: treatises computing planets, eclipses and time.Siddhanta
- VāraवारWeekday, named after a graha and counted from sunrise.Panchanga
- AyanaअयनThe Sun's half-year course: uttarāyaṇa (northward) or dakṣiṇāyana (southward).Panchanga
- Kumbhaकुम्भAquarius: eleventh sign, airy and fixed, ruled by Saturn.Jyotish · Hora
- TithiतिथिLunar day: each 12° of the Moon's elongation from the Sun.Panchanga
Articles
19- Rahu Kaal, Gulika and Yamaganda: where the day-divisions come fromThree daily periods printed in almanacs, each an eighth of the daylight chosen by weekday: how they are computed, and why we treat them as later conventions.Panchanga
- How to read a panchangThe five limbs of the Indian almanac, what each one measures, and how to make sense of a printed page.Panchanga
- Namakshar: the syllables of the nakshatra padasHow a table of 108 syllables came to be used in naming children, what the grihya sutras say about names, and what they do not.Panchanga
- Amanta and purnimanta: the Hindu calendar's two month systemsTwo ways of deciding where a lunar month ends, why they give one festival two month-names, and which regions use which.Panchanga
- Why Diwali's date moves every yearDiwali is fixed by the Moon, not the Sun: by the new Moon that closes Ashwina, by the evening it covers, and by the Lakshmi Puja window inside that evening.Panchanga
- Navratri, twice a year: Chaitra and SharadThe two nine-night festivals of the goddess, at the spring and autumn turns of the year, and the rules almanacs use to fix their first and last days.Panchanga
- Choghadiya: the day in eight partsHow the choghadiya divides daylight and night into eight periods each, why the sequence starts where it does, and where the system is used for muhurta.Panchanga
- Ekadashi: the eleventh lunar dayWhy a lunar year has 24 Ekadashis and sometimes 26, and why smarta and vaishnava almanacs can print different dates for the same one.Panchanga
- Sidereal and tropical: what the ayanamsa is, and why LahiriTwo zodiacs, one sky. How the slow wobble of the Earth's axis separates them, and how India chose a standard in the 1950s.Siddhanta
- Adhika masa: the leap monthTwelve lunar months fall about eleven days short of the solar year. How the calendar inserts a thirteenth month, when it does so, and what the rare lost month is.Panchanga
- Eclipses in the Indian sky: what is computed and what is keptHow the siddhantas compute a grahana, what Rahu and Ketu stand for in that computation, and sutak as a practice that varies from one tradition to another.Siddhanta
- Gochar explained: transits, sign changes and retrograde motionWhat a transit calendar actually lists, why a graha seems to move backwards, and how the classical texts and modern astronomy describe the same motion.Siddhanta
- Grahas are not planets: the nine "seizers"Why Jyotish counts the Sun, the Moon and two invisible points among its nine grahas, and what the word actually means.Jyotish · Hora
- Muhurta: choosing a time, the Kalpa wayFrom the ritual sutras to the Muhurta Chintamani: how the tradition thinks about doing an act at a fitting moment.Panchanga
- Sankranti: the Sun's twelve sign entriesWhy Makar Sankranti stays near 14 January while Diwali wanders, how the twelve sankrantis are classed, and the slow drift that will move the date.Panchanga
- Shunya: how India gave the world zero, and why it matters to JyotishZero as a placeholder, zero as a number, and the astronomers who needed both to compute the sky.Ganita
- The 27 nakshatras: a sky map older than the zodiacBefore the twelve signs reached India, the Vedic sky was read by the Moon's nightly stations. What they are and how they are still used.Panchanga
- Tithi: why the Hindu day is a lunar dayTwelve degrees between Sun and Moon: how the tithi is defined, why it varies in length, and why festivals follow it.Panchanga
- What the Vedic sciences are, and how they connectA map of India's classical knowledge traditions, from the Vedas through the six Vedangas to the applied sciences, and where Jyotish sits among them.Veda
Findings
3- FSVS-F-2026-001How five published almanacs differ on tithi end times, and whyPrinted panchangas for the same city and date can disagree on when a tithi ends by a few minutes or, occasionally, by much more. We set out a method for comparing five almanacs side by side and…
- FSVS-F-2026-002Kshaya and vriddhi tithis across a decadeBecause a tithi can be shorter or longer than a civil day, some tithis never touch a sunrise (kshaya, 'lost') and others touch two (vriddhi, 'increased'). We describe how to count them over ten years…
- FSVS-F-2026-003Reading an old handwritten kundli: a methodMany families keep handwritten janma patrikas, often decades old, in Sanskrit or a regional language with time stated in ghatis from sunrise. We propose a step by step method for transcribing such a…
