Choghadiya: how to read today’s table of good and bad times
Choghadiya is the quickest way people in Gujarat and Rajasthan pick a time to begin something. Here is what the seven names mean, why the table changes every day, and how to read it in a few seconds.
Ask somebody in Gujarat, Rajasthan or Maharashtra when to leave on a journey, sign a deal or open a shop, and the answer will often come from a choghadiya table rather than a full panchang. It is the simplest muhurat there is: one glance tells you whether the stretch of time you are in is a good one to start something.
This guide explains what the table means and how to read it. Today's table for your city is on our choghadiya page.
Eight in the day, eight in the night
The word comes from chau (four) and ghadi: each choghadiya is roughly four ghatis long, about an hour and a half.
More exactly, the time from sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and the time from sunset to the next sunrise into another eight. So there are sixteen choghadiyas in every day. Because they are fractions of the daylight and the night rather than fixed hours, they are longer in summer and shorter in winter, and they shift from city to city as the sunrise does.
The seven kinds
Every choghadiya carries one of seven names, and the name is what you read.
| Choghadiya | Read as | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Amrit | The best | Anything important |
| Shubh | Good | Ceremonies, starting work, marriage matters |
| Labh | Gain | Business, buying, study |
| Char | Moving | Travel and anything on the move |
| Rog | Illness | Avoided |
| Kaal | Loss | Avoided |
| Udveg | Anxiety | Avoided, though some use it for government work |
Three are good to begin in, one is neutral and suited to travel, and three are avoided.
Why the order changes every day
The first choghadiya after sunrise is decided by the weekday:
- Sunday starts with Udveg
- Monday with Amrit
- Tuesday with Rog
- Wednesday with Labh
- Thursday with Shubh
- Friday with Char
- Saturday with Kaal
The rest follow in a fixed cycle, and the eighth is always the same as the first. The night has a sequence of its own that starts somewhere else, which is why the night column never looks like the day column.
Reading the table in three steps
- Find now. Look for the row whose times include the current time. Our table marks it.
- Read the name. Amrit, Shubh or Labh means go ahead. Char is fine for a journey. Rog, Kaal or Udveg means wait for the next row if you can.
- Check Rahu Kaal. A Rahu Kaal that falls inside a good choghadiya is still avoided by most families. We mark it on the row it overlaps.
If you have a wider window to work with, the Abhijit Muhurat around midday is the other time people reach for when nothing else fits.
Why your city matters
Two cities a few hundred kilometres apart can have sunrise twenty minutes apart, and every choghadiya moves with it. A table printed for Delhi is wrong in Ahmedabad. That is why each of the biggest cities has its own page: Ahmedabad, Surat, Mumbai, Jaipur and more.
For the rest of the day — the tithi, the nakshatra, and the other muhurats — open the full panchang.