Karaṇa · vāra · nakṣatra · yoga
Four calendar words and what they describe
These four words answer different calendar questions: half a tithi, the weekday, the Moon’s star-referenced position, and a calculated Sun–Moon sum.
Four different jobs
Each word describes a different calendar relationship.
Karaṇa · calculated half-tithi
A finer calculated classification of the Moon–Sun angle.
Vāra · weekday
The familiar seven-day cycle, expressed through Sanskrit weekday names.
Nakṣatra · a star-referenced division
One of 27 divisions used to classify the Moon’s sidereal position.
Yoga · calculated classification
One of 27 divisions calculated from a sidereal Sun–Moon sum.
Nakṣatra and yoga require an ayanāṃśa: a named way of locating the starting point of the sidereal zodiac. One sky, two zodiac systems →