The five limbs of the panchang, explained simply
Tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vaar — what each one measures and what it is actually used for.
Panchang means five limbs
Pancha means five and anga means limb. A panchang is simply five measurements of the sky for a given day and place: tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and vaar. Everything else in a traditional almanac — muhurat, choghadiya, festival dates — is worked out from these five.
Tithi — the moon's distance from the sun
A tithi is the time the moon takes to gain twelve degrees on the sun. Thirty tithis make a lunar month, fifteen in the waxing paksha and fifteen in the waning one. Because the moon does not move at a constant speed, a tithi can run anywhere from about nineteen to twenty-six hours, which is why a tithi rarely starts at sunrise. Fasts, shraddha and most festivals are fixed by tithi, not by the English date.
Nakshatra — where the moon is sitting
The zodiac is divided into twenty-seven nakshatras of 13 degrees 20 minutes each. The nakshatra in which the moon sits at your birth is your janma nakshatra, and it decides your nakshatra lord, your dasha sequence and much of the matching done before marriage. Day to day, the running nakshatra is used to judge whether a journey, a purchase or a new venture is well supported.
Yoga and karana — the finer grain
Yoga is computed from the sun and moon added together and cycles through twenty-seven names; a few, like Vyaghata or Vajra, are avoided for new beginnings. Karana is half a tithi, eleven names repeating through the month, and it is consulted mostly for short practical acts — signing, sowing, travelling.
Vaar — the weekday and its lord
Each weekday belongs to a planet: Sunday to Surya, Monday to Chandra, Tuesday to Mangal, Wednesday to Budh, Thursday to Guru, Friday to Shukra and Saturday to Shani. The weekday lord sets the tone of the day and decides both the choghadiya sequence and the rahu kaal slot, which is why the same clock hour is auspicious on one day and avoided on another.
How to read it in one minute
Check the tithi and paksha to know where the lunar month stands, the nakshatra to judge the mood of the day, the sunrise and sunset because every muhurat is measured from them, and finally rahu kaal and the abhijit window so you know the one stretch to avoid and the one stretch that is almost always safe.