Panchang (Vedic almanac)

Panchang (पञ्चाङ्ग, “five limbs”) is the Vedic almanac for a specific date and location. Its five core components (tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga, karana) determine the auspiciousness of a moment - from a wedding to a product launch. AstroWay covers all five plus extra time slots (choghadia, hora, rahu-kaal) through a single API.

What we calculate

Tithi (lunar day): 30 tithis per synodic cycle, each is 12° of Moon–Sun separation. The primary marker for most muhurta calculations.
Karana (half-tithi): 11 karanas, each 6° of longitude. Classifies the activity profile of the day.
Yoga (conjunction): 27 yogas, derived from (Sun longitude + Moon longitude) / 13°20'. Energetic flavour of the day.
Nakshatra-of-day: the principal lunar mansion for the date (with the transition timestamp if there’s more than one).
Choghadia: 8 daytime + 8 nighttime slots of ~1.5 h each, labelled “Amrit / Shubh / Labh / Char” (auspicious) and “Kaal / Rog / Udveg” (inauspicious).
Hora: planetary hours (Vedic variant, starting at sunrise, 24 horas of ~1 h).
Rahu Kaal: inauspicious interval (1/8 of the daylight, slot depends on weekday).
Full panchang: all of the above in one request (handy for a daily widget).

Endpoints

Endpoint	Credits	Returns
`/v1/vedic/panchang/tithi`	20	Current tithi + transition timestamp to next
`/v1/vedic/panchang/karana`	20	Current karana + transition
`/v1/vedic/panchang/yoga`	20	Current yoga + transition
`/v1/vedic/panchang/nakshatra-of-day`	20	Day’s nakshatra + pada + transition
`/v1/vedic/panchang/choghadia`	20	16 slots (8 day + 8 night) with labels
`/v1/vedic/panchang/hora`	20	24 planetary hours
`/v1/vedic/panchang/rahu-kaal`	20	Rahu/Yama/Gulika Kaal intervals
`/v1/vedic/panchang/full`	20	Everything above in one response

Example

curl -X POST https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/panchang/full \
  -H "X-Api-Key: aw_live_your_key_here" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "date": "2026-05-11",
    "time": "06:00:00",
    "timezoneOffset": 5.5,
    "latitude": 28.6139,
    "longitude": 77.2090,
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri"
  }'

const r = await fetch('https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/panchang/full', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'X-Api-Key': process.env.ASTROWAY_API_KEY!,
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    date: '2026-05-11',
    time: '06:00:00',
    timezoneOffset: 5.5,
    latitude: 28.6139,
    longitude: 77.2090,
    ayanamsa: 'lahiri',
  }),
});
const { data } = await r.json();
console.log(`Tithi: ${data.tithi.name}, Nakshatra: ${data.nakshatra.name}`);
console.log(`Rahu Kaal: ${data.rahuKaal.startTime} - ${data.rahuKaal.endTime}`);

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    'https://api.astroway.info/v1/vedic/panchang/full',
    headers={'X-Api-Key': os.environ['ASTROWAY_API_KEY']},
    json={
        'date': '2026-05-11', 'time': '06:00:00', 'timezoneOffset': 5.5,
        'latitude': 28.6139, 'longitude': 77.2090,
        'ayanamsa': 'lahiri',
    },
)
data = r.json()['data']
print(f"Tithi: {data['tithi']['name']}, Nakshatra: {data['nakshatra']['name']}")

Sample response

{
  "jd": 2461171.520833,
  "ayanamsa": 24.225277,
  "sunrise": "05:33:04",
  "sunset": "19:02:21",
  "tithi": {
    "number": 24,
    "name": "Navami",
    "paksha": "krishna",
    "indexInPaksha": 9,
    "elongation": 283.301369,
    "percentComplete": 0.608447
  },
  "vara": { "number": 1, "name": "Somavara", "ruler": "Moon" },
  "karana": { "index": 48, "name": "Garaja", "isFixed": false },
  "yoga": { "number": 2, "name": "Priti", "sumLongitude": 23.999794 },
  "nakshatra": {
    "number": 24,
    "name": "Shatabhisha",
    "ruler": "Rahu",
    "startDeg": 306.6667,
    "endDeg": 320,
    "pada": 1,
    "longitude": 309.423644
  },
  "rahuKaal": { "name": "Rahu Kaal", "weekdaySlot": 2, "startHour": 7.237123, "endHour": 8.923138, "startTime": "07:14:14", "endTime": "08:55:23" },
  "yamaganda": { "name": "Yamaganda", "weekdaySlot": 4, "startHour": 10.609153, "endHour": 12.295168, "startTime": "10:36:33", "endTime": "12:17:43" },
  "gulika": { "name": "Gulika", "weekdaySlot": 6, "startHour": 13.981183, "endHour": 15.667198, "startTime": "13:58:52", "endTime": "15:40:02" },
  "abhijitMuhurat": { "startHour": 11.845564, "endHour": 12.744772, "midHour": 12.295168, "muhurtaMinutes": 53.952481, "startTime": "11:50:44", "endTime": "12:44:41" }
}

Accuracy & sources

Canonical texts: Surya Siddhanta (for tithi/karana/yoga), Brihat Samhita (for choghadia/muhurta), Phaladipika (for hora). We use the true Moon from Swiss Ephemeris (DE441/440), not the mean - this matters for tithi transitions (the difference can be up to 3 hours).
Reference cross-check: drikpanchang.com - the largest public panchang source. Our tithi/nakshatra transitions match drikpanchang within ±30 seconds for Lahiri ayanamsa.
Choghadia: we use the classical sequence of 7 planetary rulers. The first daytime slot’s ruler matches the weekday (Sunday - Sun, etc.).
Rahu Kaal: fixed 1/8 intervals of sunrise→sunset, with the weekday→slot mapping from classical sources (Monday = slot 2, Tuesday = slot 7, etc.).
Observer location matters. Nakshatra and tithi transition at the same UTC instant everywhere - but visible dates depend on the timezone. Pass the timezoneOffset of the location where the user wants to read the panchang.

Dashas: long-range periods (years/decades); panchang covers the short range (day-of)
Shadbala: planetary strength at the moment of the panchang
Vargas: divisional charts for deeper muhurta analysis
Accuracy: panchang snapshot tests vs drikpanchang
Credits: full pricing table
Authentication: how to obtain an aw_live_* key

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Last updated: Aug 23, 2026