Rahukaal: One Eighth of the Day

Rahukaal (રાહુકાળ) is a period of roughly ninety minutes each day, traditionally avoided for beginning anything new. It is associated with Rahu, the north lunar node.

The construction is simple: divide the daylight period into eight equal parts, and one of those eight is rahukaal. Which one depends on the weekday.

WeekdayWhich eighth of the dayOn a nominal 6am–6pm day
Monday2nd07:30 – 09:00
Saturday3rd09:00 – 10:30
Friday4th10:30 – 12:00
Wednesday5th12:00 – 13:30
Thursday6th13:30 – 15:00
Tuesday7th15:00 – 16:30
Sunday8th16:30 – 18:00
Why two panchangs give different rahukaal times. The right-hand column above assumes a tidy twelve-hour day from 6am to 6pm, and many printed panchangs and apps simply publish that fixed table. A stricter calculation uses actual local sunrise and sunset, so on a winter day in Ahmedabad with sunrise at 07:07 and sunset at 17:53, each eighth is about 81 minutes and Wednesday's rahukaal works out closer to 12:30–13:51 than 12:00–13:30. Both conventions are in wide use. Neither is a mistake — they answer the question differently, and it is worth knowing which one your source uses.

Two further periods are built the same way and often printed alongside: yamaganda kaal and gulika kaal, each another eighth of the day, each assigned to a different slot per weekday. Rahukaal is the one most people actually track.

Rahukaal Versus Choghadiya

These are separate systems that happen to share an eightfold division of the day, and they can disagree. A rahukaal window can land squarely inside an otherwise favourable Labh or Amrit choghadiya.

Traditional practice treats rahukaal as the stronger prohibition: if the two conflict, the window is avoided. The reason is that choghadiya grades every period on a scale, while rahukaal singles out one specifically as unsuitable for beginnings. A good rating does not cancel a specific prohibition.

Panchak: A Five-Day Period

Panchak (પંચક) works on a different timescale altogether. Where rahukaal is ninety minutes, panchak runs about five days, and recurs roughly every 27 days.

It is defined by the Moon's position: panchak is the period during which the Moon transits the last five nakshatras of the circle — Dhanishtha (its second half), Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati. In rashi terms, that is the Moon passing through Kumbh and Meen. Since the Moon spends about a day in each nakshatra, the period comes to roughly five days — hence the name, from pancha, five.

Traditionally, a specific and quite narrow set of activities is avoided during panchak rather than everything: roofing a house, buying or gathering fuel and timber, making a bed or cot, travelling south, and certain funeral procedures which are performed with additional rites if a death occurs during the period. Ordinary work, business and travel in other directions are not generally restricted.

Panchak is also subdivided by the weekday on which it begins — rog panchak starting Sunday, raj panchak Monday, agni panchak Tuesday, mrityu panchak Saturday, and so on — with different traditions attaching different weight to each. A panchang will normally state whether panchak is running and when it ends.

Putting a Muhurat Together

A muhurat (મુહૂર્ત) is an elected time: a window chosen to begin something important. The word also names a classical unit of about 48 minutes, one thirtieth of a day, which is where the practice of choosing a short specific window rather than a whole day comes from.

Selecting one means filtering, not looking up a single number. In rough order:

  1. The day. Rule out days the tradition avoids for that activity — certain tithis, amas, vrat days, and chaturmas for weddings.
  2. The nakshatra. Different activities have preferred nakshatras; this is where a lot of the classical detail sits.
  3. The exclusions. Remove rahukaal, yamaganda, gulika, and vishti (bhadra) karana.
  4. The choghadiya. From what remains, take an Amrit, Shubh or Labh period.
  5. The individuals. For a wedding or a formal ceremony, the birth charts of the people involved are weighed against the date.

Steps one to four can be read off a good panchang. Step five cannot. No calendar, app or website knows your family's charts, and that is precisely the part a priest is consulted for. An app narrows the field to a handful of workable windows; the final choice for something that matters is not a lookup.

Abhijit muhurat is the standing exception worth knowing. It is the roughly 48-minute window centred on local noon, and it is regarded as broadly auspicious on most days without further checking — a useful default when there is no time for a full analysis. The common caveat is that it is not used on Wednesdays.

How Much of This to Use

Honestly: most people use two of these. They check whether rahukaal falls over the time they had in mind, and they check whether the choghadiya is one of the good three. That covers ordinary decisions — signing something, opening a shop, starting a journey.

The rest — yoga, karana, panchak subdivisions, nakshatra matching — comes into play for weddings, housewarmings and formal ceremonies, and those are the occasions where a panchang is a starting point rather than the answer. Use the app to narrow it down, then confirm with whoever your family would normally ask.

Rahukaal, Panchak and Choghadiya, Daily

Gujarati Calendar 2026 lists rahukaal, panchak status and all sixteen choghadiya periods for every day, in Gujarati.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is rahukaal?
Rahukaal is a period of roughly ninety minutes each day, traditionally avoided for starting anything new. The daylight period is divided into eight equal parts and one of them is rahukaal, with which part depending on the weekday — the second on Monday, the third on Saturday, the fourth on Friday, the fifth on Wednesday, the sixth on Thursday, the seventh on Tuesday and the eighth on Sunday.
Why do two sources give different rahukaal times?
Because they use different conventions. Many panchangs publish a fixed table based on a nominal 6am to 6pm day, giving neat 90-minute slots. A stricter calculation divides the actual local daylight period into eight, which shifts the window by up to half an hour depending on the season and city. Both are in common use.
What is panchak and what should be avoided during it?
Panchak is a period of about five days, recurring roughly every 27 days, when the Moon transits the last five nakshatras — the second half of Dhanishtha, then Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati. Traditionally a narrow set of activities is avoided: roofing a house, gathering timber or fuel, making a bed, and travelling south. Ordinary work and business are not generally restricted.
What is Abhijit muhurat?
Abhijit muhurat is the window of roughly 48 minutes centred on local noon. It is regarded as broadly auspicious on most days without needing further analysis, which makes it a common default when there is no time to choose a muhurat properly. It is traditionally not used on Wednesdays.
Can an app choose a wedding muhurat for me?
It can do most of the filtering — rule out unsuitable tithis, show the nakshatra, exclude rahukaal and vishti karana, and identify favourable choghadiya windows. What it cannot do is weigh the birth charts of the people involved, which is a required part of electing a wedding muhurat. Use the app to narrow the options, then confirm with your priest.
About this content. Panchang, choghadiya, muhurat and rashifal belong to a living religious and cultural tradition, and are presented here in that spirit. Timings are calculated for particular reference cities and will differ where you are; different panchang traditions legitimately disagree about which tithi a day belongs to, so a one-day difference between two sources is normal rather than an error. Nothing here is medical, legal, financial or professional advice. For a wedding, a ceremony or any decision that matters to your family, confirm the date against the panchang your family follows or with your own priest.