New Numerology API

Panchang and calendar

Panchang in Vedic astrology

The panchang is the Hindu almanac for a day and a place. Its name means five limbs: tithi (the lunar day), vara (the weekday), nakshatra (the Moon's star group), yoga and karana. A day's panchang is read at local sunrise, so it can differ from city to city.

Updated

More terms in Panchang and calendar

© API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com). "Glossary day arc". All rights reserved. Not to be copied or reused.12345678SunriseNoonSunsetOne day, from sunrise to sunset

Panchang: how the API computes it

The API computes all five limbs from the true positions of the Sun and Moon. They are tithi (the lunar day, PA-01), yoga (from the Sun and Moon together, PA-02) and karana (half a tithi, PA-03). The other two are vara (the weekday, PA-04) and nakshatra (the Moon's star group, PA-05).

There are two endpoints. POST /v1/panchang reads the five limbs at a birth moment. GET /v1/panchang/daily needs only a date and a place. It adds sunrise and sunset, the lunar month, rahu kaal, choghadiya, hora and other muhurat windows (good or bad times of day).

The tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana come with start and end times in the local time zone. Each can change in the middle of the day. For a whole month at once, use GET /v1/panchang/month.

The panchang for a birth moment and the panchang for a calendar day can differ. The day's panchang is read at sunrise (BD-04).

Panchang in a real API answer

GET /v1/panchang/daily?date=2026-10-01&latitude=40.7128&longitude=-74.006&timezone=America/New_York200 OK
{
  "date": "2026-10-01",
  "tithi": {
    "name": "Shashthi",
    "paksha": "krishna"
  },
  "vara": {
    "name": "Thursday"
  },
  "nakshatra": {
    "name": "Rohini"
  },
  "yoga": {
    "name": "Siddhi"
  },
  "karana": {
    "name": "Gara"
  }
}
The five limbs of the panchang for one day in New York: tithi (lunar day), vara (weekday), nakshatra, yoga and karana. Real output for New York, Oct 1, 2026.

Get it from the API

Panchang at the birth moment. Here is the call to API for Astrology (apiforastrology.com) for our sample, John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York.

POST /v1/panchang

# John Doe, born Aug 15, 1990, 10:30 AM, New York
curl -X POST "https://apiforastrology.com/api/astrology/v1/panchang" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ASTROLOGY_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"year":1990,"month":8,"day":15,"hour":10,"minute":30,"second":0,"latitude":40.7128,"longitude":-74.006,"timezone":"America/New_York"}'
Answer (long lists shortened)200 OK
{
  "tithi": {
    "index": 25,
    "name": "Dashami",
    "paksha": "krishna",
    "completion_percent": 64.9975
  },
  "yoga": {
    "index": 14,
    "name": "Harshana",
    "completion_percent": 0.1278
  },
  "karana": {
    "index": 50,
    "name": "Vishti",
    "completion_percent": 29.9949
  },
  "vara": {
    "index": 4,
    "name": "Wednesday",
    "lord": "Mercury"
  },
  "vedic_vara": {
    "index": 4,
    "name": "Wednesday",
    "lord": "Mercury",
    "before_sunrise": false
  },
  "note": "`vara` is the civil weekday; `vedic_vara` runs sunrise to sunrise and is what the vara lord is read from",
  "nakshatra": {
    "name": "Mrigashira",
    "lord": "Mars",
    "pada": 1
  },
  "meta": {
    "ayanamsa": "lahiri",
    "ayanamsa_value": 23.7260727,
    "julian_day": 2448119.10483,
    "ephemeris": "JPL DE440s",
    "node": "true",
    "timezone": {
      "source": "zone",
      "offset_hours": -4,
      "zone": "America/New_York",
      "abbreviation": "EDT",
      "dst": true,
      "dst_hours": 1,
      "ambiguous_resolved_by_fold": null,
      "note": "read from the IANA tz database at this instant, so daylight saving and historical offset changes are included"
    }
  }
}

Where the API returns it

POST/v1/panchangPanchang at the birth moment
GET/v1/panchang/dailyDaily panchang for a date and place, no birth data
POST/v1/reading/dailyDaily reading for a chart
GET/v1/rashi/{sign}/todayDaily reading for a Moon sign, no chart
GET/v1/panchang/monthPanchang calendar for a month, with festivals and fasts
POST/v1/reading/weeklyWeekly reading for a chart

What the API reference says

Each line is quoted from the reference page of the endpoint named above it.

  • GET /v1/panchang/daily · Daily panchang for a date and place, no birth dataReturns the panchang for a date and place.
  • POST /v1/panchang · Panchang at the birth momentReturns the panchang for the birth moment.
  • GET /v1/panchang/month · Panchang calendar for a month, with festivals and fastsThe days come from the same calculations as /v1/panchang/daily, /v1/festivals and /v1/vrats.

Feature page: Panchang and muhurat. Who uses it: Publishers and media. The classical rules the API follows are in the rulebook.

How we check the numbers

Every value here starts from planet positions worked out from NASA JPL planet data (DE440). We test them against NASA JPL Horizons, NASA's planet position service. On 25,571 positions from 1850 to 2149, the Sun and planets agree within 0.001 arc seconds. The Moon agrees within 0.011. On 2,000 random birth charts, the rising sign agrees with Swiss Ephemeris within 0.004 arc seconds. An arc second is 1/3,600 of a degree. A practicing astrologer reviews the rules behind these answers. See how we test.

Related terms

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  • Today's panchang

    Tithi (lunar day), nakshatra, sunrise, rahu kaal and the choghadiya (good and bad parts of the day) for your own city.

    See today's panchang

From the blog

Astrology API

Get these values from the API

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Your first answer

John Doe, New York

POST /v1/planets200 OK
  • RisingVirgoHast
  • SunCancerAshlesha
  • MoonTaurusMrigashira
  • MarsAriesKrittika

Real API output. A free test key gets the same answer.

  1. 01

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  2. 02

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  3. 03

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