Shubh Muhurat Calculator — Best Auspicious Time

Shubh Muhurat (शुभ मुहूर्त) is an auspicious window of time chosen for starting an important activity — marriage, house warming (griha pravesh), buying a vehicle, naming ceremony, business launch, signing a contract, travel, or elective surgery. The Vedic principle is that the same action performed in a favourable cosmic window yields lasting positive effect, while the same action performed during an inauspicious window invites obstacles. Traditional muhurat is computed by combining several panchang angas (limbs of the calendar) — Tithi, Nakshatra, Vara (weekday), Yoga, Karana — plus daily windows like Choghadiya, Hora, and avoidance of Rahu Kalam.

Each ~60-minute slot of the day is scored 0-100 by overlaying three already-shipped Vedic calculators: (1) Choghadiya — the slot midpoint is mapped to one of the 8 day or 8 night periods and scored by kind (Amrit +30, Shubh +25, Labh +20, Char +15, Udveg -20, Rog -25, Kaal -30); (2) Hora — the planet ruling the hora is checked against the event's ideal planets (full +40 for primary, +32 for secondary, +24 for tertiary; or +10 generic auspicious); (3) Rahu/Yamaganda/Gulika overlap — any overlap subtracts 50. A daytime bonus (+10) and baseline (+50) are added, then clamped 0-100. Top 6 windows are surfaced; ≥80 = excellent, ≥65 = good, ≥45 = fair, below = avoid.

Each anga catches different cosmic factors. Choghadiya is a coarse 8-period quality classifier for the daylight + night half. Hora is a planet-of-the-hour signal — Jupiter hora is ideal for marriage, Mercury for trade, Mars for surgery. Rahu Kalam / Yamaganda / Gulika are three universally-avoided daily windows regardless of any other factor. A slot that is "Amrit Choghadiya + Jupiter hora + outside Rahu Kalam" is multiply auspicious — far stronger than any single signal. Pandits traditionally check all of these (and more) before fixing a muhurat.

For marriage (विवाह), the strongest signals are: (a) Jupiter, Venus, or Moon ruling the hora — these are the karaka planets for vivah-yoga; (b) Amrit, Shubh, or Labh Choghadiya; (c) no overlap with Rahu Kalam, Yamaganda, or Gulika; (d) ideally daytime (visibility + tradition). Traditional classical muhurat also requires checking Tithi (avoid Amavasya, Chaturdashi, Bhadra), Nakshatra (Rohini, Mrigashira, Magha, Uttara Phalguni, Hasta, Swati, Anuradha, Mula, Uttara Ashadha, Uttara Bhadrapada, Revati are vivah-yogya), and Yoga (avoid Vyatipata, Vaidhriti) — for a final wedding date a pandit should reconcile this tool's output with these deeper checks.

Classical texts are emphatic: Rahu Kalam, Yamaganda, and Gulika Kalam should be avoided for any new auspicious beginning. Even if the Choghadiya is Amrit and the Hora is Jupiter, an overlap with Rahu Kalam should disqualify the window — this calculator applies a -50 penalty for exactly this reason. For routine activities (continuing work already in progress, daily prayers, eating meals) the avoidance is less strict. For one-time life events (marriage, griha pravesh, vehicle purchase, surgery) the avoidance is absolute.

Sunrise/sunset are computed via the NOAA solar position algorithm (±1 min). Choghadiya, Hora, and Rahu Kalam derive from sunrise+sunset using classical period divisions (8 day periods, 12 day horas, 1/8 daylight for Rahu Kalam). Hora planet assignment follows Chaldean order from the day-lord. All three are deterministic given correct sunrise. For ceremonial-grade muhurat (a wedding date, a major launch) verify with a pandit running full Drik panchang ephemeris (Swiss Ephemeris) and checking Tithi/Nakshatra/Yoga/Karana on top.