What is Vaar (weekday)?

Vaar is simply the weekday — one of the five limbs of the panchang (tithi, vaar, nakshatra, yoga, karana). There are seven vaar, Ravivar (Sunday) to Shanivar (Saturday), and each is named after a ruling planet (Ravi/Sun, Som/Moon, Mangal/Mars…). In the Hindu system the vaar begins at sunrise, not midnight, and the day's auspicious and inauspicious windows — Rahukaal, Gulika, Yamaganda, Abhijit — shift with the vaar.

Vaar is the most familiar of the panchang's five limbs. A person may forget the tithi or nakshatra of the day, but everyone knows “today is Monday.” A vaar is the roughly twenty-four-hour stretch from one sunrise to the next.

There are seven vaar — Ravivar, Somvar, Mangalvar, Budhvar, Guruvar, Shukravar and Shanivar. Interestingly, this seven-day week is not tied to any single astronomical or natural event; the Marathi Vishwakosh even calls it “entirely artificial.” Yet cultures across the world arrived at the same seven-day week in parallel, with the same planet names attached to the days.

The vaar is different from the tithi — a vaar runs sunrise to sunrise (a steady ~24 hours), whereas a tithi depends on the Moon–Sun angle (a variable ~19–26 hours).

The seven vaar — ruling planet & deity

Each vaar is named after a planet, and tradition links a deity to that planet. The planet names are firm (many independent sources agree); the deity pairings, however, vary by tradition and from household to household.

The deity shown above is by tradition and can change with household and regional custom. The planet column, though, is fixed: Ravi–Surya, Som–Chandra, Mangal–Mangal, Budh–Budh, Guru–Guru, Shukra–Shukra, Shani–Shani.

Why the days carry planet names — hora and the Chaldean order

Why these exact planet names, and this exact order (Ravi → Som → Mangal…)? The answer lies in the hora system — and it is no coincidence.

• A hora is one of the 24 parts of the span from one sunrise to the next; each hora has a ruling planet.
• Arrange the planets by their speed (slowest to fastest) and you get the Chaldean order: Shani → Guru → Mangal → Ravi → Shukra → Budh → Chandra.
• The planet ruling the first hora of the day is the ruler of that vaar. A day holds 24 horas; 24 ÷ 7 leaves a remainder of 3, so the next day's first hora lands three steps ahead in the Chaldean order.

Apply this “step of three” repeatedly and the sequence Ravi → Som → Mangal → Budh → Guru → Shukra → Shani falls out on its own. In other words, the order of the vaar is a direct result of the hora arithmetic — which is exactly why the same order shows up in parallel across cultures.

Vaar begins at sunrise — and how it differs from tithi

In the Hindu system the vaar changes at sunrise (in the Gregorian calendar the day changes at midnight). So the pre-dawn hours before sunrise still count as the previous vaar — a detail that matters when you start or break a vrat (an observance/fast).

Because the vaar and the tithi move at different rates, “an exact tithi never falls at a fixed vaar.” A tithi can change within a single vaar, and this is the root of kshaya and vriddhi tithi (a skipped or repeated tithi).

The day's auspicious & inauspicious windows (Rahukaal · Gulika · Yamaganda · Abhijit)

The vaar decides which part of the day the Rahukaal, Gulika kaal and Yamaganda fall in. That is why you check the vaar when choosing a time for auspicious work.

How Rahukaal is set (in brief): split the daytime (sunrise to sunset) into 8 equal parts; one part fixed by the vaar is the Rahukaal. The table below shows only the stable fact — which part (its ordinal number) — not a clock time, since the clock time shifts every day and by city.

• This ordinal order matches across two other independent panchang sources and our own month data — all three agree.
• Gulika kaal and Yamaganda also fall in fixed vaar-wise parts like this — see Gulika kaal and Yamaganda for details.
• Abhijit muhurat is the most auspicious window of about 48 minutes around local noon (roughly ~24 minutes on each side of midday). But Abhijit muhurat is not held auspicious on Wednesday (Budhvar); the popular explanation is that the midday Rahukaal neutralises it. See Abhijit muhurat for details.

⚠️ The ordinal order here is fixed, but its clock time changes every day and in every city (it depends on sunrise and sunset). For your city's exact time, see today's panchang.

What each day suits (by tradition)

The worship, jap-mantra and remedies below are by tradition — not universal rules; they change with household and regional custom.

In Maharashtra two customs stand out in particular — see the next section.

Regional practice (Maharashtra)

• Guruvar × Mahalakshmi: in Maharashtra, Thursday in the month of Margashirsh (masa) is held as the special day of the Mahalakshmi vrat; in many other regions Guruvar is chiefly for Datta or Brihaspati.
• Shanivar × Maruti: in Maharashtra there is a strong custom of Maruti/Hanuman darshan on Saturday, alongside Shani.
• Marathi panchang follows the amanta reckoning, yet the vaar is independent of that — amanta or purnimanta, the vaar is the same either way.

Good to know

• Don't decide “which vaar is it today” from the Gregorian date alone — the pre-dawn hours before sunrise count as the previous vaar (important when starting or breaking a vrat).
• The clock time of the vaar-wise Rahukaal/Gulika/Yamaganda is different every day — check your city's panchang; don't assume “on this vaar, at this hour” applies everywhere.
• Rahukaal is considered “inauspicious,” but routine and ongoing work need not be stopped — it mainly signals avoiding new auspicious beginnings (tradition-dependent).
• Deity pairings and vaar remedies vary by tradition — treat them as cultural context, not as a universal rule.

FAQ

What is vaar?

One of the five limbs of the panchang — the weekday (Ravivar to Shanivar), from one sunrise to the next.

How many vaar are there in a week?

Seven — Ravivar, Somvar, Mangalvar, Budhvar, Guruvar, Shukravar and Shanivar.

Why are the days named after planets?

In the hora system the planet ruling the first hora of the day names that vaar; applying the “step of three” in the Chaldean order repeatedly produces the sequence Ravi → Som → Mangal… on its own.

Which deity is worshipped on which vaar?

See the table above (Ravi–Surya, Som–Shiv, Shani–Shani/Maruti, etc.). Deity pairings vary by tradition and household.

Does the vaar begin at sunrise or at midnight?

In the Hindu system, at sunrise (in the Gregorian calendar, at midnight). So the pre-dawn hours before sunrise count as the previous vaar.

Why is Abhijit muhurat not taken on Wednesday?

Abhijit muhurat is not held auspicious on Budhvar; the popular reason given is the midday Rahukaal.

Why is each vaar's Rahukaal different?

The fixed part (of the day's 8 parts) changes by vaar (Sun 8th, Mon 2nd, Tue 7th, Wed 5th, Thu 6th, Fri 4th, Sat 3rd).