What is Choghadiya?

Choghadiya is a simple muhurat (auspicious-timing) table in the panchang. The day and the night are each split into 8 parts, and every part (one choghadiya) is treated as good or bad. Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Char are the good ones; Rog, Kaal and Udveg are avoided.

The word ‘choghadiya’ means ‘four ghadi’ — chau (four) + ghadi. A ghadi is an old unit of time, about 24 minutes, so four ghadi comes to about 96 minutes — roughly an hour and a half. The day and the night are each split into eight such parts, and every part has its own name and quality.

It is a quick reference within the panchang. Just the vaar (weekday) and the time of day are enough to tell you whether a slot is good or bad — you don't need the deeper calculation of graha (planet) positions, nakshatra or tithi. That is why choghadiya is handy for small, everyday decisions.

The ‘good/bad’ of choghadiya is a traditional belief, not an astronomical rule.

Significance

• A quick tool: Choghadiya is a simple, vaar-based tool. When there is no time to work out a full muhurat, or you suddenly need to leave or begin something, you can pick a good time just by looking at the choghadiya.
• Based on graha auspiciousness: Each choghadiya has a ruling graha (planet). The periods of the benefic grahas (Moon, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus) are treated as good, and the periods of the malefic grahas (Sun, Mars, Saturn) as bad — this is the root of the whole classification.
• Not a substitute for muhurat: Choghadiya is a quick reference for everyday life; for big events like a vivah (wedding) or griha-pravesh (house-warming), a full muhurat is treated as the real authority. More on that difference below.

Choghadiya vs muhurat — the difference

In short — choghadiya is a quick reference, while a muhurat is a deep calculation. For big and important life events, consult a full muhurat; use choghadiya for everyday decisions.

The seven types of Choghadiya

There are seven types of choghadiya in all — four good and three bad. Each has a ruling graha.

Char (Chanchal) is counted among the good choghadiya in most panchangs; some Marathi traditions treat it as medium — good mainly for travel and work involving movement.

Note: ‘Do this work in that choghadiya’ varies by tradition and region; these are not universal commands. Some traditions even give the bad choghadiya limited uses (for example, in some places Udveg is said to suit government/official work, and Kaal to suit wealth-accumulation tasks). Take this as ‘it is generally believed,’ not as a rule.

How the day and night Choghadiya are worked out

• Day (8 parts): the stretch from sunrise to sunset is split into 8 equal parts; each part is one choghadiya.
• Night (8 parts): the stretch from sunset to the next day's sunrise is split into 8 equal parts.

Because sunrise and sunset shift every day and by location, the length and timing of each choghadiya changes daily and from city to city — so ‘an hour and a half’ is only an average, not a fixed time.

The first Choghadiya by weekday

The first choghadiya of the day belongs to the ruling graha of that vaar. For example, Sunday's lord is the Sun, so on Sunday the first daytime choghadiya is Udveg (Sun). After that the choghadiya move in a fixed cycle:

Udveg → Char → Labh → Amrit → Kaal → Shubh → Rog (→ back to Udveg)

The table below shows the first choghadiya of the day and of the night. The following slots come in order along the cycle above.

⚠️ The order in this table is fixed, but the clock time of each choghadiya changes every day and in every city (it depends on sunrise and sunset). For your city's exact time, see Today's Panchang.

Choghadiya vs Rahukaal — the difference

Both are time windows in the panchang, and both shift daily and by city with sunrise and sunset — but they are different things:

• Rahukaal is a single fixed inauspicious band each weekday (about 90 minutes). Likewise, Gulika kaal and Yamaganda are other inauspicious windows.
• Choghadiya, on the other hand, shows 8+8 good-and-bad parts across the whole day and night — so it doesn't just name one bad band, it also shows you the good times of the day.

The Abhijit muhurat, considered the most auspicious window of the day, is yet another separate, short (~48-minute) good period.

Regional practice

Choghadiya is more embedded in daily life in Gujarat, Rajasthan and north India; businesspeople there routinely check the choghadiya for daily dealings and travel, and Gujarati panchangs print the day and night choghadiya prominently. It is used in Maharashtra too; but formal Marathi muhurat decisions rest mainly on the five limbs (panchang) + Rahukaal/Gulika/Yamaganda, with choghadiya acting as a quick-reference layer on top. (How much weight it actually carries varies by region and tradition.)

Some Marathi traditions also read choghadiya together with dishashool (which direction to avoid travelling in on which weekday). This is an advanced sub-rule. It helps to check local family tradition or a panchang before travel.

Good to know

• The time is local: don't treat any fixed choghadiya time as universal — it depends on sunrise and sunset and changes daily and from place to place. For today's exact time, see the Today's Panchang page.
• Choghadiya = quick, muhurat = deep: for big and important life events, consult a full muhurat; use choghadiya for small daily decisions.
• Choghadiya is not the sole final test: some traditions hold that even a good choghadiya is no longer good if faults like kaal-vela / kaal-ratri fall on it. So read choghadiya alongside the other limbs.
• ‘Good/bad’ is a traditional belief — read it as cultural context, not as a universal rule.

FAQ

What is Choghadiya?

A simple muhurat table in the panchang that splits the day and night into 8 parts each and marks every part as good or bad. One part lasts about an hour and a half.

Which Choghadiya is auspicious (shubh)?

Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Char are treated as good; Rog, Kaal and Udveg are avoided. (Char is treated as medium in some traditions.)

Is Amrit Choghadiya good or bad?

Amrit is treated as the most auspicious choghadiya; it is considered suitable for all kinds of good work.

How are the day and night Choghadiya worked out?

Day: sunrise to sunset ÷ 8; night: sunset to next sunrise ÷ 8. The first choghadiya of the day belongs to the ruling graha of that vaar, and the rest follow a fixed cycle.

How long does one Choghadiya last?

About an hour and a half on average (≈ 4 ghadi ≈ 96 minutes; one ghadi = 24 minutes). But it changes daily with sunrise and sunset.

What is the difference between Choghadiya and Rahukaal?

Both are panchang time windows; Rahukaal is a single fixed inauspicious band each weekday, while choghadiya shows 8+8 good-and-bad parts across the day and night (both shift by location).

Which Choghadiya is good for travel?

Traditionally the Char (Chanchal / Venus) choghadiya is considered favourable for travel. But this varies by tradition, and in some places dishashool is read alongside it.