Jyotish — the science of light · door 6 of 11
The panchang — five limbs of a day
How Bharat has kept time for three thousand years
Match the sky
0 of 5 matchedTap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
Three questions to seal this door
1. One tithi is completed each time the Moon gains on the Sun by —
2. How many different karanas are there?
3. Which tithi closes the bright half (shukla paksha)?
The rishi's scroll — read more, if you wish
Pancha-anga — five limbs. Every day in the Vedic calendar is described by five measures: the tithi, the vara, the nakshatra, the yoga and the karana. Together they tell you the quality of the day, not only its date.
A tithi is completed each time the Moon gains 12° on the Sun — so a lunar month holds 30 tithis: fifteen of the bright half (shukla paksha), ending at Purnima, and fifteen of the dark half (krishna paksha), ending at Amavasya.
Festivals, fasts and muhurtas are all set by the panchang — which is why VEDAUM computes it for your own place, from real astronomy. Look at today's five limbs in the tool, then come back and seal this door.
| Limb | How many | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | 30 tithis | The lunar day: each 12° the Moon gains on the Sun |
| Vara | 7 varas | The weekday, sunrise to sunrise, each ruled by a graha |
| Nakshatra | 27 nakshatras | The Moon's mansion for the day |
| Yoga | 27 yogas | The Sun and Moon added together, in steps of 13°20′ |
| Karana | 11 karanas | Half a tithi — 60 in a month, of 11 kinds |
The tables on this page are drawn from the same data VEDAUM reads charts with. The teaching text awaits a jyotishi's review, like every teaching page here.