Choghadiya today

Delhi

The first period of each weekday

What choghadiya is

Choghadiya (chaughadiya) is a popular system that divides day and night into eight stretches each, about an hour and a half on average. Each has a name and a planet: Amrit with the Moon, Shubh with Jupiter, Labh with Mercury, Chal with Venus, Udveg with the Sun, Rog with Mars, Kaal with Saturn. The name hints at the character: Labh (gain) for trade and money matters, Shubh (auspicious) for rites and study, Chal (motion) for travel, while Rog (illness) and Kaal are considered unlucky for beginnings. It is especially loved in Gujarat and Rajasthan for trade, travel and business meetings.

How it is calculated

Daylight from local sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and so is the night from sunset to the next sunrise. The first daytime choghadiya belongs to the lord of the weekday, the rest follow in a fixed order, and the night begins with its own weekday choghadiya. That is why the table changes with the city and the season: it follows the local sunrise. A time before sunrise belongs to the night of the previous weekday. The table below shows the first periods of every weekday.

How much weight it carries

Choghadiya is a practical system of regional origin and is absent from the classical muhurat treatises; most panchangs of northern and western India still print it. In the overall rating of time it weighs less than Rahu kalam or Abhijit: if a good choghadiya coincides with Rahu kalam, Rahu kalam takes priority.

Questions