Period · 2026
Panchak 2026: All Dates and Timings
Panchak is the four to five days each month when the Moon passes through the last five nakshatra-halves of the zodiac, from the second half of Dhanishtha to the end of Revati.
Panchak in 2026
| Begins | Ends | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 21 Jan, 1:35 AMTuesday | 25 Jan, 1:35 PM | Agni Panchak |
| 17 Feb, 9:05 AMTuesday | 21 Feb, 7:07 PM | Agni Panchak |
| 16 Mar, 6:14 PMMonday | 21 Mar, 2:28 AM | Raja Panchak |
| 13 Apr, 3:44 AMSunday | 17 Apr, 12:02 PM | Roga Panchak |
| 10 May, 12:13 PMSunday | 14 May, 10:34 PM | Roga Panchak |
| 6 Jun, 7:03 PMSaturday | 11 Jun, 8:16 AM | Mrityu Panchak |
| 4 Jul, 12:48 AMFriday | 8 Jul, 4:00 PM | Chora Panchak |
| 31 Jul, 6:38 AMFriday | 4 Aug, 9:54 PM | Chora Panchak |
| 27 Aug, 1:35 PMThursday | 1 Sep, 3:23 AM | Panchak (no named type) |
| 23 Sep, 9:57 PMWednesday | 28 Sep, 10:16 AM | Panchak (no named type) |
| 21 Oct, 7:00 AMWednesday | 25 Oct, 7:22 PM | Panchak (no named type) |
| 17 Nov, 3:30 PMTuesday | 22 Nov, 5:55 AM | Agni Panchak |
| 14 Dec, 10:35 PMMonday | 19 Dec, 3:58 PM | Raja Panchak |
Times are for New Delhi (IST), from our own engine, Lahiri ayanamsa.
What is Panchak?
The word means “group of five”: the second half of Dhanishtha, Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati, the stretch of the zodiac where the Moon is in Aquarius and Pisces. The Moon crosses it in about four and a half days, once every sidereal month, so there are thirteen or fourteen Panchaks in a year.
Muhurta texts name the Panchak by the weekday on which it begins: Roga (Sunday), Raja (Monday), Agni (Tuesday), Chora (Friday) and Mrityu (Saturday). A Panchak beginning on a Wednesday or Thursday has no special name, and many almanacs treat it as milder. The weekday here is the Hindu day, which runs from sunrise to sunrise, so a Panchak that begins before dawn belongs to the previous weekday.
Panchak is a convention of muhurta, the choice of timings; it is not a forecast of what will happen. Most of life goes on through it, and many families pay it no attention at all.
What custom avoids
These are customs, not rules; families and regions differ.
- Collecting firewood, grass or fuel, and storing it.
- Laying a roof or beginning the top storey of a house.
- Making or buying a bed or cot (charpai).
- Setting out on a journey to the south.
- If a death occurs, families that follow the custom place five small kusha-grass figures with the body at the cremation (panchak shanti); the cremation itself is not postponed.
Daily work, study, travel in other directions, puja, festivals and most purchases go on as usual. Muhurta texts apply the Panchak rules to the specific acts above, not to the whole of life.
How we compute it
We compute the Moon’s sidereal longitude (Lahiri ayanamsa) and find the moments it reaches 300°, the start of Dhanishtha’s third pada (0° Aquarius), and 360°, the end of Revati. The start and end are given to the minute for New Delhi; the moments are the same everywhere, only the clock time changes with the time zone. The ends agree with the Indian Astronomical Ephemeris’s Moon-enters-Mesha moments to a fraction of a minute.
Questions people ask
Is Panchak inauspicious for everything?
No. The texts restrict a few specific acts during Panchak, such as gathering fuel, laying a roof, making a bed and travel to the south. Everyday work, worship and festivals are not affected.
Why do the Panchak times match all over India?
Panchak depends only on where the Moon is among the stars, so it begins at the same instant everywhere. The clock time is the same across India because the whole country uses IST; only the weekday rule depends on local sunrise.
What is Mrityu Panchak?
A Panchak that begins on a Saturday. Despite the name it is a label for muhurta, not a prediction; the customs followed are the same as for any Panchak, kept a little more carefully by those who follow them.