Guides / Panchang
What is Tithi?
Tithi is the lunar day: a 12° step in the elongation between the Moon and the Sun, fifteen in the bright fortnight and fifteen in the dark.
A day counted from Sun and Moon
Tithi is the lunar day. It advances each time the Moon gains 12° on the Sun. There are thirty Tithis in a lunar month: Pratipada (Prathama) through Chaturdashi, then Purnima at the full Moon, and after the waning fortnight, Amavasya at the new Moon.
Festivals are often tied to a named Tithi. Ekadashi, for example, is the eleventh lunar day of a fortnight. The civil date of that Tithi moves each year and can differ by city because the Tithi is judged at local sunrise.
How to read the name on the page
When the Panchang says the Tithi is Dwitiya, that is the second lunar day of the current fortnight. The end time is when the Sun–Moon angle reaches the next 12° mark. Karana then splits that Tithi in half.
Common questions
- How long is a Tithi?
- A Tithi is 12° of elongation between Moon and Sun. In clock time that is usually a little less or a little more than a solar day, which is why Tithis do not line up neatly with midnight-to-midnight dates.