Opening a shop or an office is a beginning, and Indian business families have long treated beginnings with some ceremony. A lamp is lit before the first sale, a coconut is broken, the account book is marked with a swastika and the first entry is made on a chosen day. Many also hold a small puja to Lakshmi and Ganesha. The choice of day is a custom that survives in every bazaar, and this page offers one classical way to make it.
The source and its limits
The Muhurta Chintamani is a text of about 1600 CE. It has chapters on marriage, houses, the sacraments and journeys, but it does not have a chapter on opening a business, because the shop as we know it was not one of its subjects. The tag on this page says so: the classical rule nearest to this event. The nearest thing it gives is the rule for setting out on an undertaking, which sits with its rules for journeys in the Yatra prakarana. Opening a business is a setting out, and the tradition’s own idea of a good beginning is the one we borrow.
This is a reasoned choice, and we say so to avoid any suggestion that the text names these days for shops. Panchang publishers differ more here than on any other event, and a family firm will often have its own custom, such as opening on a particular weekday, or on Akshaya Tritiya or Dhanteras, which no table can replace.
The conditions applied
Nakshatra. Four groups are accepted: the fixed nakshatras, Rohini, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha and Uttara Bhadrapada, which suit a business meant to stand; the movable ones, Punarvasu, Swati, Shravana, Dhanishta and Shatabhisha, which suit trade and travel; the gentle ones, Mrigashira, Revati, Chitra and Anuradha; and the quick ones, Ashwini, Pushya and Hasta. Together that is sixteen of the twenty-seven.
Weekday. Monday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Wednesday is the day of Mercury, the planet of trade, and Thursday and Friday are the days of Jupiter and Venus, which many traders favour.
Tithi. The Rikta tithis, Chaturthi, Navami and Chaturdashi, and Amavasya are avoided. The rest are left open.
Karana and yoga. The Vishti karana and the yogas Vyatipata and Vaidhriti are avoided.
Not applied. The leaped month, Chaturmas and the asta of Venus and Jupiter are not excluded, because the nearest rule does not ask for them. Many traders open on Dhanteras or Dussehra, which fall inside Chaturmas, and the table does not forbid that.
What the table shows
You will find that the list is long, with a large number of days in nearly every month. The text, as applied here, has relatively little to say against a beginning, and the conditions are mostly about avoiding a short list of poor days. A day on the list is not a prediction of success, and a day off the list is not a prediction of failure. We make no claim about the profit of any business.
Each row gives the window within the day when the nakshatra, tithi, yoga and karana agree. If your plan is to open the doors at a set hour, choose a day whose window covers it, or one close enough that your astrologer can find a suitable hour. Some businesses keep two moments: the formal opening, with the puja, in the window, and the first real sale whenever the customers arrive.
What your astrologer adds
The table checks the day. The owner’s chart is separate, and the astrologer will look at tarabala and chandrabala for each partner, at the tenth house, which is the house of work, and at the lagna of the hour. Where a business has two or three partners, the day must suit all of them, which no general list can ensure. Please use the table as a shortlist.
Practical matters come first. Licences, premises, stock and a plan for the first months do more for a business than the date, and the muhurat is a way of beginning with care, not a substitute for it.
For other places
The windows depend on the place. This table is for New Delhi, and the muhurat finder works the same method out for your town. Related pages are the vehicle purchase page, the property page and the muhurat hub. For Lakshmi puja on the day of opening, see our Diwali Lakshmi puja guide, and for the dates of festivals that traders favour, the Dhanteras page and the Akshaya Tritiya page.
Making the opening day count
Whatever day you pick, the opening is also a day for the customers and the staff. Prepare the premises, the stock and the first entries in the account book beforehand, so the muhurat window is spent on the ceremony and not on last-minute fixes. Many owners invite family and a few neighbours, and give a small sweet to the first customers. If you have partners or employees, tell them the chosen time in advance so that everyone is present. A calm, well-prepared opening is a good start by any reckoning, with or without a muhurat.