Rahu Kaal Today — Rahu Kalam, Yamaganda and Gulika

The part of the day given to Rahu follows the weekday. The approximate clock times below assume a 6 AM sunrise and 6 PM sunset, which is roughly right near the equinoxes. The live times above are always exact for the city and date.

An easy way to remember the order is the old line "Mother Saw Father Wearing The Turban Suddenly", for Monday, Saturday, Friday, Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday and Sunday, each taking the next part of the day starting from the second.

Beginnings. Setting out on a journey, a first day at work, signing an agreement, a purchase of property, gold or a vehicle, starting a new treatment, an engagement or naming ceremony, opening a shop. The belief is that something begun under Rahu meets obstacles or ends up somewhere unexpected.

Routine work, anything already in progress, and anything unavoidable carry on as normal. Hospitals do not stop and trains still leave. If you must begin something important in Rahu Kaal, many families simply start it a few minutes before the window opens.

There is one traditional exception: prayers to Rahu himself, and to Durga, are considered especially effective during Rahu Kaal, and many South Indian temples hold Rahu Kala pujas at exactly that time on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Yamaganda is avoided above all for travel and for anything connected with health. Gulika Kaal, the portion of Saturn's son Gulika, is read differently: whatever begins in it tends to repeat. That makes it a poor time for a funeral or a debt and, some families say, a fine time for buying property or gold, which you would want more of.

Both are one eighth of the day, like Rahu Kaal, and both move by weekday. The seven-day table on this page shows all three side by side so you can plan around them together.

Mainstream practice uses only the daytime Rahu Kaal, and that is what this page shows. Some almanacs also divide the night into eight and mark a night Rahu Kaal, but there is no agreement on which part it is, and most panchangs, including the widely followed South Indian ones, do not print it.

Because it is a fraction of that place's daylight. On the same day Rahu Kaal in Chennai and in Delhi can differ by more than twenty minutes, and in London or New York it can fall hours away from the "standard" Indian time. Travellers should always check it for the city they are in, not the one they came from.