The timings in one place
Many people ask the same few questions every morning. When does the Sun rise? When is Rahu kaal, the stretch to keep new tasks out of? When is Abhijit, the midday muhurat that tradition holds to be steady, and when does the Brahma muhurta begin, the pre-dawn time many people keep for prayer or study? This tool answers them for any town or city and any date, in the local time of that place.
How each time is worked out
Sunrise and sunset use the Sun’s position for your latitude and longitude, with the upper edge on the horizon and a standard allowance for refraction. The time zone is found from the place, with daylight saving applied for the date, and nothing about the place is sent to us.
Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are found by dividing the time from sunrise to sunset into eight equal parts and taking the part that tradition assigns to the weekday. For Rahu kaal it is the eighth part on Sunday, the second on Monday, the seventh on Tuesday, the fifth on Wednesday, the sixth on Thursday, the fourth on Friday and the third on Saturday. The Abhijit muhurat is the fifteenth of the day around local midday and is not taken on Wednesdays.
The Brahma muhurta follows the Drik Panchang method. A muhurta here is one fifteenth of the night, and the Brahma muhurta is the muhurta that ends one muhurta before sunrise. It is about 96 to 48 minutes before sunrise in the usual case, but it changes with the length of the night, so it is longer in winter. Some traditions use a fixed 96 to 48 minutes, and the tool says so. Moonrise and moonset are those between this sunrise and the next, as in a daily panchang.
Right now
When the date is today at the place, the tool also says what is running at this moment, for example whether Rahu kaal or Abhijit is in force. It uses the clock of your device and the time zone of the place you chose, so the answer is correct for a city other than your own.
Where traditions differ
Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are worked out from the real sunrise and sunset of your place, which is what most panchang publishers do, so they can differ from a printed table made for another city. Abhijit is not observed on Wednesdays in most almanacs. Brahma muhurta differs as described above. If your family or temple follows another timing, it is right to follow it.
These timings are guidance from a tradition. They do not decide whether a task will succeed, and no one needs to avoid ordinary life during Rahu kaal.
What it does not do
It does not give the tithi, nakshatra or choghadiya. For those, open the panchang for any place, or see choghadiya, hora and the guide to Rahu kaal. For the Moon in more detail, use the moonrise calculator.
Frequently asked questions
↳ What is Brahma muhurta?
It is the pre-dawn muhurta that tradition holds to be calm and good for prayer, meditation and study. It ends one muhurta before sunrise.
↳ Why does Rahu kaal change every day?
It is one eighth of the daytime, and the eighth it occupies depends on the weekday. Sunrise and sunset also change through the year, so its length and its clock time change.
↳ Is Abhijit muhurat always at noon?
It is centred on local solar noon, which is not the same as twelve o'clock on the clock. It is about forty-eight minutes long on an average day.
↳ Do the timings work for a city abroad?
Yes. Type the city and choose it from the list, and the tool uses its sunrise, sunset and time zone.
↳ Why does the date field say today?
If you leave it blank, the tool uses today's date at the place you chose, which can differ from the date where you are.