---
type: Concept
bundle: jyotisha-kala
bundle_version: 0.12.0
id: panchanga
title: Pañcāṅga
iast: Pañcāṅga
devanagari: पञ्चाङ्ग
description: 'The five-limbed almanac of Hindu timekeeping: tithi, vāra, nakṣatra, yoga, and karaṇa together specify a day’s position in the interlocking solar and lunar cycles; NOT a horoscope, NOT a festival list, NOT astrology-app luck copy.'
darshana:
- Jyotiṣa
text_source: Sūrya Siddhānta 2; Muhūrta Cintāmaṇi
tags:
- panchanga
- almanac
- calendrics
- jyotisha
- kala
not:
- term: 'a horoscope'
  why: 'A pañcāṅga states five computed quantities valid for everyone at a locality on a day; a horoscope (jātaka) maps one person’s birth moment. Conflating them folds public calendrics into private fortune-telling and erases the Vedāṅga’s actual job: fixing the times of ritual.'
  instead: 'Render pañcāṅga as the five-limb almanac and keep the Sanskrit term.'
- term: 'a festival list'
  why: 'Festival dates are outputs computed FROM the pañcāṅga; the almanac itself is the five astronomical quantities. Treating it as a list of holy days hides the computational system underneath.'
- term: 'astrology-app luck copy'
  why: 'Commercial apps flatten five computed limbs into daily-luck one-liners. The limbs are recomputable astronomy; the luck copy is an overlay the classical almanac does not contain.'
related:
- /concepts/tithi.md
- /concepts/vara.md
- /concepts/nakshatra.md
- /concepts/yoga-panchanga.md
- /concepts/karana.md
timestamp: '2026-07-09'
okf_version: '0.2'
license: CC BY-SA 4.0
---

# Pañcāṅga -- पञ्चाङ्ग

**Not:** a horoscope, a festival list, astrology-app luck copy

## What It Actually Means

Pañcāṅga means five limbs. For any locality and day the almanac states five computed quantities: the tithi (lunar day), the vāra (weekday), the nakṣatra the Moon occupies, the yoga (a luni-solar sum), and the karaṇa (half-tithi). Together they locate the day in the interlocking solar and lunar cycles, which is what Hindu ritual timing runs on: a festival is defined by māsa and tithi, an observance by nakṣatra, an election by the whole set. The pañcāṅga is the public interface of the gaṇita apparatus: siddhānta-grade computation delivered as a daily table, recomputable by anyone with the same equations.

## Audience Metaphor

A pilot’s pre-flight sheet: wind, visibility, pressure, runway, traffic. Five independent readings that together say what kind of hour this is for flying. The pañcāṅga is that sheet for a day, computed from the sky rather than guessed, and the election manuals are the flight rules written over it.

## Citations

1. Sūrya Siddhānta 2 on computing tithi, nakṣatra, yoga, and karaṇa -- see [references/surya-siddhanta.md](../references/surya-siddhanta.md)
2. Muhūrta Cintāmaṇi on election over the five limbs -- see [references/muhurta-chintamani.md](../references/muhurta-chintamani.md)
