Nalla neram today and Gowri panchangam

What the Gowri panchangam is

The Gowri panchangam is Tamil Nadu's simplest way of choosing a good time. Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, is cut into eight equal parts, and so is the night, from sunset to the next sunrise. Each part carries a name: Amirdha, Uthi, Laabam, Dhanam and Sugam are good; Rogam, Soram and Visham are not.

Which name falls where is fixed by the weekday — a set table, printed in the Pambu Panchangam. It is not one cycle turned round by the weekday (Monday's day runs Amirdha, Visham, Rogam …), so we keep the table exactly as printed.

Reading nalla neram

Nalla neram ("good time") is the good parts of the Gowri panchangam, with neighbouring good parts joined into one window. Tradition begins new work, journeys, purchases and ceremonies in them.

Rahu kalam always falls on a Visham part, but emagandam and kuligai sometimes fall on a good one. Many families avoid a new start in those too, so such parts are marked.

Some printed Tamil calendars give a fixed clock-time "nalla neram" for each weekday, assuming a 6 am sunrise. Ours are from your city's actual sunrise and sunset that day, so they can differ by a few minutes.