Modern Panditji

Hora

Hora today — the 24 planetary hours

Twelve hours of daylight and twelve of night, each ruled by one of the seven planets. The first hora after sunrise belongs to the weekday, and the rest follow in a fixed order. Pick the planet that suits the work and the work has an hour.

· Shukravara · Chennai

Every hora on this page is cut from Chennai's own sunrise and sunset, so a day hora and a night hora are rarely the same length and neither is sixty minutes.

Sunrise05:57 amSunset06:22 pmDay length12 hours 25 minutes

In Chennai on Friday 28 August the first hora is Shukra Hora, from 05:57 am to 06:59 am.

Which hora is running

Which hora is running

Read against the clock where you are. The full day is in the two tables below.

Sunrise to sunset

Day hora

Day hora

Daylight, cut into twelve equal parts. The first is the weekday lord’s own hour.

  1. toShukra Hora(Venus)Auspicious· at sunriseArt, music, love and romance, luxury purchases, new clothes and jewellery, anything meant to please.
  2. toBudha Hora(Mercury)AuspiciousTrade and commerce, learning, writing, accounts, communication and travel for business.
  3. toChandra Hora(Moon)AuspiciousTravel, matters of water and fluids, dealings with women and the family, planting and gardening.
  4. toShani Hora(Saturn)AvoidLabour, oil and iron, land and construction, work with the elderly. Avoided for any new beginning.
  5. toGuru Hora(Jupiter)AuspiciousEducation, religious rites, marriage, finance and banking, meeting elders and teachers.
  6. toMangal Hora(Mars)AvoidCourage, land and property disputes, surgery, sport and anything needing force. Avoided for auspicious starts.
  7. toSurya Hora(Sun)NeutralGovernment and official work, anything needing authority, meeting a person in power, applying for a post.
  8. toShukra Hora(Venus)AuspiciousArt, music, love and romance, luxury purchases, new clothes and jewellery, anything meant to please.
  9. toBudha Hora(Mercury)AuspiciousTrade and commerce, learning, writing, accounts, communication and travel for business.
  10. toChandra Hora(Moon)AuspiciousTravel, matters of water and fluids, dealings with women and the family, planting and gardening.
  11. toShani Hora(Saturn)AvoidLabour, oil and iron, land and construction, work with the elderly. Avoided for any new beginning.
  12. toGuru Hora(Jupiter)AuspiciousEducation, religious rites, marriage, finance and banking, meeting elders and teachers.

Sunset to sunrise

Night hora

Night hora

Sunset to tomorrow’s sunrise, in twelve equal parts, continuing the same cycle.

  1. toMangal Hora(Mars)AvoidCourage, land and property disputes, surgery, sport and anything needing force. Avoided for auspicious starts.
  2. toSurya Hora(Sun)NeutralGovernment and official work, anything needing authority, meeting a person in power, applying for a post.
  3. toShukra Hora(Venus)AuspiciousArt, music, love and romance, luxury purchases, new clothes and jewellery, anything meant to please.
  4. toBudha Hora(Mercury)AuspiciousTrade and commerce, learning, writing, accounts, communication and travel for business.
  5. toChandra Hora(Moon)AuspiciousTravel, matters of water and fluids, dealings with women and the family, planting and gardening.
  6. toShani Hora(Saturn)AvoidLabour, oil and iron, land and construction, work with the elderly. Avoided for any new beginning.
  7. toGuru Hora(Jupiter)AuspiciousEducation, religious rites, marriage, finance and banking, meeting elders and teachers.
  8. toMangal Hora(Mars)AvoidCourage, land and property disputes, surgery, sport and anything needing force. Avoided for auspicious starts.
  9. toSurya Hora(Sun)NeutralGovernment and official work, anything needing authority, meeting a person in power, applying for a post.
  10. toShukra Hora(Venus)AuspiciousArt, music, love and romance, luxury purchases, new clothes and jewellery, anything meant to please.
  11. toBudha Hora(Mercury)AuspiciousTrade and commerce, learning, writing, accounts, communication and travel for business.
  12. toChandra Hora(Moon)AuspiciousTravel, matters of water and fluids, dealings with women and the family, planting and gardening.

Hora

What a hora is

Hora is the hour of the planets. Take the interval from sunrise to sunset and cut it into twelve; do the same from sunset to the next sunrise. Each of the twenty-four pieces is one hora and each is ruled by a planet. The word is the root of the English "hour", and the system is older than the clock.

Because the pieces are fractions of the real day, they breathe with the season. A day hora in a Delhi June runs close to seventy minutes and a night hora barely fifty; in December it is the other way round. A page that prints every hora as sixty minutes is quoting the average and has not looked at your sunrise.

Where the order comes from

Where the order comes from

The first hora after sunrise is ruled by the planet of the weekday: the Sun on Sunday, the Moon on Monday, Mars on Tuesday, Mercury on Wednesday, Jupiter on Thursday, Venus on Friday, Saturn on Saturday. After that the lords step through the Chaldean order, which runs Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and then round again.

SunVenusMercuryMoonSaturnJupiterMars

Twenty-four steps through a cycle of seven land three places along, which is why Sunday’s sunrise hora hands over to the Moon at Monday’s sunrise. The weekday names, in nearly every language, are this table read once a day.

The seven lords, and their hours

The seven lords, and their hours

What the tradition uses each planet’s hour for. Four are counted good for beginnings, the Sun’s is for a particular kind of work, and two are for what suits them rather than for anything new. It is a custom to lean on, not a forecast.

  • Surya Hora

    (Sun)

    Government and official work, anything needing authority, meeting a person in power, applying for a post.

  • Shukra Hora

    (Venus)

    Art, music, love and romance, luxury purchases, new clothes and jewellery, anything meant to please.

  • Budha Hora

    (Mercury)

    Trade and commerce, learning, writing, accounts, communication and travel for business.

  • Chandra Hora

    (Moon)

    Travel, matters of water and fluids, dealings with women and the family, planting and gardening.

  • Shani Hora

    (Saturn)

    Labour, oil and iron, land and construction, work with the elderly. Avoided for any new beginning.

  • Guru Hora

    (Jupiter)

    Education, religious rites, marriage, finance and banking, meeting elders and teachers.

  • Mangal Hora

    (Mars)

    Courage, land and property disputes, surgery, sport and anything needing force. Avoided for auspicious starts.

Questions

Questions

Which hora is good today?

Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Budha (Mercury) and Chandra (Moon) horas are the four counted auspicious for starting something. They come round twice each in every twenty-four hours, once by day and once by night; the tables above show exactly when in your city.

Is a hora always sixty minutes?

No. A hora is a twelfth of the daylight or a twelfth of the night, so it is sixty minutes only on the equinox. Some sites deal twenty-four clock hours from sunrise instead; this page uses the proportional form the printed panchangs use.

Which hora should be avoided?

Shani (Saturn) hora is avoided for any new beginning and Mangal (Mars) hora for anything meant to be auspicious. Both still have their uses, which the list above names.

The rest of the day

The rest of the day

Hora in your city

Hora in your city

Sunrise differs by well over an hour across India, and every hora is cut from it. Pick yours.

How this page is worked out

  • Sunrise, sunset and the next sunrise come from our own calculation engine, using the disc-centre-with-refraction convention Indian panchangs use.
  • The twelve day horas are exact twelfths of the interval between sunrise and sunset, and the twelve night horas exact twelfths of sunset to the next sunrise.
  • The lord of the first hora is the weekday’s planet, and the sequence after it is the Chaldean order, both read from the same tables the choghadiya uses.
  • All times are Indian Standard Time.
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