Reading the panchang
The panchang (panchangam) has five limbs. Vara is the weekday, counted from sunrise. Tithi is the lunar day: each 12° the Moon gains on the Sun, thirty in a lunar month, in the bright (Shukla) and dark (Krishna) halves. Nakshatra is the Moon’s star. Yoga comes from the sum of the Sun’s and Moon’s longitudes, and karana is half a tithi.
Rahu kalam, Yamagandam and Gulika kalam are eighths of the daytime that tradition avoids for starting new work; which eighth depends on the weekday. Abhijit muhurta, the period around local noon, is held auspicious on most days.