Jyotish glossary

Short definitions of the panchang terms used on this site. Each one is tied to the calculation on the method page.

Panchang terms

Tithi (तिथि)

A lunar day. Each tithi is 12° of Moon–Sun elongation; 30 tithis make a lunar month.

Paksha (पक्ष)

A fortnight. Shukla (bright) is tithis 1–15; Krishna (dark) is tithis 16–30.

Nakshatra (नक्षत्र)

One of 27 sidereal segments of 13°20′ that the Moon passes through.

Yoga (योग)

One of 27 values of the sum of the sidereal Sun and Moon longitudes, in the same 13°20′ segments.

Karana (करण)

Half a tithi (6° of elongation). There are 11 karanas, of which 4 occur once a month and 7 repeat.

Vara (वार)

The weekday.

Rashi (राशि)

A sidereal sign of 30°. For the panchang, the Moon's rashi is the one it is in at sunrise.

Ayanamsa (अयनांश)

The angle between the tropical and sidereal zodiacs. Subtract it from the tropical longitude to get sidereal longitude. Lahiri, Raman and KP are the three offered here.

Sidereal / Tropical (निरयन / सायन)

Sidereal zodiac is fixed to the stars and is used in Jyotish. Tropical zodiac is fixed to the equinox and is used in Western astrology.