Choghadiya today

What choghadiya is

Choghadiya divides the day, from sunrise to sunset, and the night, from sunset to the next sunrise, into eight parts each. Every part carries one of seven names: Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Char, Udveg, Kaal and Rog. Tradition reads Amrit, Shubh and Labh as good for beginning something, Char as fit for travel and moving things, and Udveg, Kaal and Rog as parts to leave aside for new work.

It is most used in Gujarat, Rajasthan and western India for small, everyday choices: when to set out, open the shop, make a payment or sign a paper. The name comes from chau (four) and ghadi: each part is roughly four ghadis, about an hour and a half.

How these times are computed

We take this city's own sunrise and sunset from our engine (the upper edge of the sun on the horizon, with standard refraction) and divide daylight into eight equal parts; the night from sunset to the next sunrise is divided the same way. A part is about 90 minutes only near the equinoxes. In winter the day parts are shorter and the night parts longer, and the other way round in summer.

The first day part belongs to the weekday's ruling graha and the rest follow the hora order (Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars), which is why each weekday opens with a different choghadiya. The night begins five steps along the same chain. Nothing is read from a fixed table: change the city and every time moves with its sunrise.

Using it calmly

Choghadiya is a light tool for daily timing, not a verdict on your day. For a wedding, griha pravesh or another large beginning, families look at a full muhurat, which weighs tithi, nakshatra and more. Where a good choghadiya overlaps rahu kaal, many people simply skip the overlap.