A good time from the panchangam is chosen from the day's limbs: the tithi, star, weekday, yoga and karana, and the day's windows such as rahu kalam. An election chart is a horoscope cast for the minute the event begins: the rising sign and the house of every planet. Kalaprakasika already reads such a chart for upanayanam (pp. 43, 50). A modern author, Sanjay Rath, argues that the panchangam alone is not enough (p. 265) and gives chart rules for a marriage (p. 266). Nava Panchangam gives good times from the panchangam; it does not cast an election chart.
☕ A day, then a minute
The panchangam's limbs change slowly. A tithi or a star lasts about a day, and a weekday lasts all day. So a good time chosen from them is a window: a day, or a few hours of it, when the limbs are favourable and the day's adverse windows are over. That is what the panchangam can give, and it is the same for everyone in one town. The seven star classes page shows one such limb rule.
The rising sign changes much faster: a new sign rises about every two hours, so the whole chart of houses turns once a day. An election chart is cast for the exact minute the event begins, like a birth chart for the event. It lets an astrologer choose, inside a good window, the minute when the rising sign and the planets' houses also suit the occasion. Some of its rules also count from the person's own birth chart, so two people may get different minutes on the same day.
This is not only a modern idea. Kalaprakasika, the South Indian muhurtha book, reads the chart of the moment for upanayanam: the Moon's sign and the rising sign should both receive Jupiter's aspect (p. 43), and it names five combinations, formed when the Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu stands in an angle of that chart, which the chosen time should be free of (p. 50). Its marriage chapter gives rising signs too, as the wedding date page explains.
Nava Panchangam gives good times from the panchangam's limbs and windows; it does not cast an election chart for an event. Nava Panchangam does not use this rule in its day score. This page explains it as the books give it.
What each one looks at
- The tithi, star, weekday, yoga and karana of the day
- The day's windows: rahu kalam, yamagandam, gulika kalam and the rest
- Changes over hours; the same for everyone in one town
- What Nava Panchangam shows
- The rising sign at the minute the event begins
- The house of each planet in that chart
- Some rules count from the person's own birth chart
- Cast by an astrologer; Nava Panchangam does not cast it
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a good time from the panchangam enough?
For many daily starts the tradition uses the panchangam alone. Rath argues that the panchangam alone is not enough, and that the chart of the moment is read as well (p. 265).
What does Rath say a marriage chart should have?
No planet in the 7th or 8th house, particularly not Mars or Ketu in the 8th; a strong Venus, and Venus never in the 6th; and the malefic planets preferably in the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th houses (p. 266). He also does not advise a marriage while the Moon is in Krittika (p. 268). These are one modern author's rules.
Can two people get different minutes on the same day?
Yes, for the rules that count from a person's own chart. Rath, for a swearing-in or a coronation, counts the rising sign of the moment from the person's own birth lagna and sets aside a dusthana from it (p. 178). Dusthana is Rath's word; reading it as the 6th, 8th or 12th is this page's, as Rath counts the 3rd as one in some passages and not in others. The panchangam's limbs are the same for everyone in one town.
Is Rath's Krittika rule in the South Indian muhurtha book?
Kalaprakasika's marriage chapter does not state it as a rule, and Krittika is not among the eleven stars that chapter calls best (p. 79). Rath writes from a lineage other than Tamil household practice, so this page gives his rules as his, not as a settled rule. The South Indian book's own marriage lists are on the wedding date page.
Will Nava Panchangam cast an election chart for me?
No. It shows good times from the panchangam's limbs and windows for your city. An election chart needs the event's exact place and minute and an astrologer's reading.
From the sources
Kalaprakasika's chart of the moment, Rath's rules side by side, and what this page leaves out.
📖 Kalaprakasika's chart of the moment
Kalaprakasika (1917) is a South Indian muhurtha book, and its upanayanam chapter reads the chart for the moment of the rite. It calls the Moon's sign the body and the rising sign the life of the event, and wants Jupiter to aspect both (p. 43). It then names five combinations, one each for the Sun, Mars, Saturn, Rahu, Ketu standing in a quadrant (the 1st, 4th, 7th or 10th house) of that chart, and says the chosen time should be free of all five (p. 50).
🧭 Rath's rules, side by side
| Occasion | The rule | Page |
|---|---|---|
| Any | Do not choose the time from the panchangam alone | p. 265 |
| Marriage | No planet in the 7th or 8th; Venus strong, never in the 6th; malefics preferably in the 3rd, 6th, 10th or 11th | p. 266 |
| Marriage | Not with the Moon in Krittika | p. 268 |
| Swearing-in, coronation | The rising sign not in a dusthana from the person's birth lagna (the 6th, 8th or 12th, in this page's reading) | p. 178 |
Sanjay Rath is one modern author, writing in a lineage other than Tamil household practice. These rules are recorded as his, and an astrologer weighs them with both horoscopes.
✂️ What this page leaves out
Next to his marriage rules Rath adds one further rule, left out here; next to the coronation rule he gives its outcome. Kalaprakasika attaches an outcome to each of its five combinations and to Jupiter's houses (pp. 43, 50). This page keeps the rules and leaves those out.