Cosmic Quest
Explainer · Panchanga timing
Rahu Kaal: how it is calculated, and why it moves
Rahu Kaal (Rahu Kalam) is a daily window that many Panchangas mark as unsuitable for beginning new work. It is not a fixed clock time: it is one eighth of the daylight, chosen by the weekday, so it moves with your city and the season.
The daylight-eighths method
- Find local sunrise and sunset for the city and date.
- Divide the daylight between them into eight equal parts.
- Take the part assigned to the weekday:
| Weekday | Part | If daylight were exactly 06:00–18:00 |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | eighth of 8 | 16:30–18:00 |
| Monday | second of 8 | 07:30–09:00 |
| Tuesday | seventh of 8 | 15:00–16:30 |
| Wednesday | fifth of 8 | 12:00–13:30 |
| Thursday | sixth of 8 | 13:30–15:00 |
| Friday | fourth of 8 | 10:30–12:00 |
| Saturday | third of 8 | 09:00–10:30 |
The last column is the “fixed” table often printed for convenience. It is right only when sunrise is at 06:00 and sunset at 18:00. The Android app uses the same weekday table (its Panchanga also shows Gulika Kaal, which uses a different one).
Same date, different cities
| City | Sunrise | Sunset | One part | Rahu Kaal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bengaluru | 06:10 | 17:58 | 1 h 28 min | 15:01–16:29 |
| Delhi | 06:24 | 17:46 | 1 h 25 min | 14:56–16:21 |
| London | 07:32 | 17:56 | 1 h 18 min | 15:20–16:38 |
Each city gets its own window because its sunrise, sunset and day length differ.
| City | Date | Daylight | Rahu Kaal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bengaluru | Sunday 21 June 2026 | 12 h 53 min | 17:11–18:48 |
| Delhi | Sunday 21 June 2026 | 13 h 58 min | 17:37–19:21 |
| Bengaluru | Monday 21 December 2026 | 11 h 22 min | 08:01–09:27 |
| Delhi | Monday 21 December 2026 | 10 h 19 min | 08:26–09:44 |
On 21 December 2026 the fixed table would say 07:30–09:00 for a Monday in Delhi; the calculated window is 08:26–09:44.
What Rahu Kaal is — and is not
The window is named after Rahu, the ascending lunar node, which the tradition regards as an obstructive influence; Rahu Kaal is especially observed in southern India. It is a timing convention, not an astronomical event: nothing happens in the sky at its start or end, and there is no evidence that it affects outcomes. Cosmic Quest calculates it so you can follow your own practice accurately.
Against Drik Panchang on 28 city-and-date combinations, the website’s Rahu Kaal agreed within 0.6 minutes. The published day pages list it for every date.
Take your own sky further.
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