What is Rahu Kaal

Take the daytime, from sunrise to sunset, and divide it into eight equal parts. Rahu Kaal is one of them, chosen by the weekday. It is the 2nd part on Monday, the 7th on Tuesday, the 5th on Wednesday, the 6th on Thursday, the 4th on Friday, the 3rd on Saturday and the 8th on Sunday.

Suppose sunrise is at 6:00 am and sunset at 6:00 pm. Each part is 90 minutes long. On Monday the 2nd part runs from 7:30 to 9:00 am, so that is Rahu Kaal. On Sunday it is the 8th part, from 4:30 to 6:00 pm. The method is the same everywhere. Only sunrise and sunset change.

Traditionally, Rahu Kaal is avoided for starting new work, travel, signing papers and buying. The idea is simple. When you have a choice, begin the important thing at a better time. Many families check the panchang for this before a new venture, a purchase or a trip.

Daily life carries on as usual. Meals, ordinary office work, school and household tasks do not stop. Work already begun can continue through Rahu Kaal. If a ticket is booked or a meeting is fixed, people usually go ahead. The advice is about the moment of beginning, not about the whole hour.

Two related periods are computed in exactly the same way. Yamaganda and Gulika are also one eighth of the daytime each. The weekday decides which part, and on any given day the three periods fall on three different parts. When day and night are equal, each is about 90 minutes long.

Both are traditionally avoided for starting new ventures, though Rahu Kaal is the one most people watch. Our panchang lists Rahu Kaal with the times to avoid, and Yamaganda and Gulika under More details. A time that is clear of all three is the most comfortable choice for a new beginning, if you are able to choose.

Rahu Kaal is counted from sunrise and sunset, and both depend on where you are. A city in the east sees the sun earlier than a city in the west. The gap between long days and short days is wider in a city farther from the equator. So on the same Monday, Rahu Kaal falls at a different clock time in Kolkata and in Jaipur.

The length changes too. Rahu Kaal is 90 minutes only when the day is 12 hours long. On a longer day it runs longer, and on a shorter day it runs shorter. A printed table with one fixed time for each weekday is therefore only an approximation. For the exact time in your city, use the panchang.

The daytime, sunrise to sunset, is split into eight equal parts. These are the parts each period takes:

Rahu Kaal in other cities: Jaipur, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Lucknow, Bikaner.