Gujarati Calendar (Vikram Samvat, Tithi & Choghadiya)

About the Gujarati Calendar (Vikram Samvat, Tithi & Choghadiya)

A month of the Gujarati calendar for your own town. Every day shows its tithi — Sud or Vad, Ekam to Punam and Amas — and nakshatra at sunrise and its place in the amanta month, Kartak to Aso, with the adhik maas named in a year that has one; the Vikram Samvat year that begins on Bestu Varas, the day after Diwali, heads the month. Tap a day for its panchang, sunrise and sunset, the day’s and night’s choghadiya and its Rahu kaal. Bestu Varas, Diwali, Dhanteras, Kali Chaudas, Bhai Bij, Dev Diwali, Navratri, Dussehra, Sharad Punam, Janmashtami, Rath Yatra and Holi are marked, with every Punam, Amas and Agiyaras.

The months run from new moon to new moon and are named after the sign the Sun is in at the new moon, the rule of the Rashtriya Panchang; every month beginning matches its table for Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra and Karnataka, which marks Kartak Sud Ekam as the year’s beginning in Gujarat. Names are in Gujarati and English; print the month on A4 or Letter, save it as CSV, or add the year’s festivals to your phone calendar. Everything is calculated on your device.

How the months and the Vikram Samvat are worked out

An amanta month runs from one new moon to the next and is named after the sidereal sign the Sun is in at the new moon that begins it; in Gujarati they are Kartak, Magshar, Posh, Maha, Fagan, Chaitra, Vaishakh, Jeth, Ashadh, Shravan, Bhadarvo and Aso. When two new moons fall while the Sun stays in one sign, the first month is adhik (extra) and the second nija; festivals are kept in the nija month. A month or paksha begins on the day whose sunrise falls in its Ekam — or on the day a short (kshaya) Ekam begins and ends — as the Rashtriya Panchang’s tables count it.

Gujarat counts the Vikram Samvat from Kartak Sud Ekam (the Kartikadi system), so the year changes on Bestu Varas, usually the day after Diwali; the Rashtriya Panchang’s table of eras begins Vikram Samvat 2083 on 10 November 2026. North India counts the same era from Chaitra, about seven months earlier. The tests compare all twenty-six paksha beginnings of the Rashtriya Panchang’s table for Saka 1948 at its central station; all agree. At Ahmedabad one comes a day earlier — Nija Jeth’s Vad paksha, whose Ekam begins at 05:27 IST on 30 June 2026, before Ahmedabad’s sunrise — because the calendar follows the town’s own sunrise.

Choghadiya

The time from sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and so is the night from sunset to the next sunrise. By day the choghadiyas follow the order Udveg, Char (Chal), Labh, Amrit, Kaal, Shubh, Rog, starting with the one of the weekday’s lord — Sunday Udveg, Monday Amrit, Tuesday Rog, Wednesday Labh, Thursday Shubh, Friday Char, Saturday Kaal — so the eighth part repeats the first; by night they follow Shubh, Amrit, Char, Rog, Kaal, Labh, Udveg, starting with the choghadiya of the lord of the fifth weekday. Amrit, Shubh and Labh are the good ones, Char is neutral, and Udveg, Kaal and Rog are avoided. The choghadiya timings page shows them for any date with a countdown.

Festivals and the rules they follow

• Bestu Varas: Kartak Sud Ekam at sunrise.
• By the tithi, with the Rashtriya Panchang’s rules: Ram Navami (midday), Hanuman Jayanti (Chaitra Punam), Akhatrij (forenoon), Rath Yatra (Ashadh Sud Bij), Guru Purnima, Raksha Bandhan (after Bhadra), Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi (midday), Navratri, Dussehra (afternoon), Sharad Punam (night), Dhanteras (Aso Vad Teras at dusk), Kali Chaudas, Diwali (Aso Amas at dusk), Bhai Bij (afternoon), Dev Diwali (Kartak Punam), Vasant Panchami, Maha Shivaratri (midnight), Holi and Dhuleti. Makar Sankranti (Uttarayan): the day the Sun enters Makara, the next day when it enters after sunset.
• Agiyaras follows the Smarta rule, with the Vaishnava day when it differs: Dev Podhi Agiyaras in Ashadh, Dev Uthi Agiyaras in Kartak. Punam and Amas are kept on the day whose sunrise they cover.

The tests compare the Diwali days, Bestu Varas, Rath Yatra, Janmashtami, Navratri, Dussehra, Sharad Punam and Dev Diwali with the Indian Astronomical Ephemeris and the Rashtriya Panchang.

Local almanacs

This calendar is computed from the true positions of the Sun and the Moon, as the Rashtriya Panchang is. Printed panchangs that use other methods or another town’s sunrise can put a tithi or a festival a day earlier or later when a tithi changes close to sunrise; for temple festivals, follow the temple’s own calendar.

Sources

• India Meteorological Department, Positional Astronomy Centre: Rashtriya Panchang — Regional calendars, Chronological eras, Explanation and Principal festivals — and the festival criteria of the Indian Astronomical Ephemeris; the Gujarati month and tithi names are the ones Gujarati calendars print.
• D. Cross, astronomy-engine (MIT licence): the positions of the Sun and the Moon and the searches for sunrise and sunset.
• GeoNames (CC BY 4.0): the towns, coordinates and time zones of the place search.

Limitations

• Printed panchangs that use other methods or another town’s sunrise can show a tithi or festival a day earlier or later.
• Festivals kept by custom on a fixed day of a month (Labh Pancham, Jaya Parvati, the days of the Paryushan) are not placed; every day’s tithi is shown so you can find them.
• Times are for a level horizon at sea level; hills change sunrise and sunset by a few minutes, and with them the choghadiyas.
• Years from 1900 to 2100 are supported. Where the Sun does not rise or set (near the poles) the choghadiyas cannot be divided and are left out.

Privacy

Everything is calculated in your browser, and the CSV and calendar files are made there too. A town or coordinates you choose are remembered in this browser for the panchang tools; Reset forgets them.