Rahu Kaal: what it is, how it is calculated, and what to avoid
Rahu Kaal is a daily 90-minute window considered inauspicious for beginnings. Here is how it is calculated from your local sunrise, why it differs by city, and what actually matters.
What Rahu Kaal is
Rahu Kaal (or Rahu Kalam) is one-eighth of the daytime — roughly 90 minutes — assigned to the shadow planet Rahu each day. Tradition holds it inauspicious for starting new ventures: signing contracts, journeys, weddings, housewarmings or big purchases. Routine ongoing work is generally considered unaffected.
How it is calculated (and why your city matters)
Divide the time between local sunrise and sunset into eight equal parts. Rahu rules a different segment each weekday: Monday the 2nd, Saturday the 3rd, Friday the 4th, Wednesday the 5th, Thursday the 6th, Tuesday the 7th, and Sunday the 8th.
Because it is anchored to your local sunrise, Rahu Kaal in Delhi and Chennai differ on the same day — and it shifts through the year as days lengthen and shorten. Any fixed printed table is approximate; a correct value needs your city and today's actual sunrise.
A practical way to use it
Treat Rahu Kaal as a scheduling filter, not a source of fear: avoid initiating important things in that window when you can, and if something must start then, tradition suggests completing a small remedial gesture and proceeding. For genuinely important beginnings — a wedding, a business launch, a griha pravesh — go one level deeper and select a proper Muhurta, which weighs tithi, nakshatra, yoga, lagna and more.
See today's Rahu Kaal for your exact location
Celestara computes your daily panchang — tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and Rahu Kaal — from your city's actual sunrise, free every day.
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