Pillar article
Navratri Muhurta Is the Tithi at Local Sunrise
Navratri's muhurta is the lunar tithi itself: Shukla Pratipada through Navami, in Ashwin for the autumn festival and in Chaitra for the spring one. The civil date is whichever sunrise holds that tithi. A lamp-lighting time copied from another city fails when the tithi changes near dawn, because sunrise in the west of India is not sunrise in the east, even though every Indian clock reads Asia/Kolkata.
Two Navratris, one rule
Ashwin Shukla is the widely kept Sharad Navratri. Chaitra Shukla is the spring Navratri, and in some regions it carries the heavier temple calendar. Both are nine tithis, not nine weekdays. A Tuesday inside Navratri is Mangala Gauri's kind of day only if it is also a Shravana Tuesday. Mixing the festivals produces the wrong goddess-day. The significance is the bright fortnight's approach to the tenth, Vijayadashami, when the same lunar month turns from the nine nights to the tenth tithi. Pooja on each night follows the family's sampradaya: a ghatasthapana at the start in many homes, a form of Durga each night, and a closing on Navami or on the tenth according to local custom.
Sunrise is the muhurta's hinge
A tithi is twelve degrees of Moon-Sun elongation. It can begin after midnight and end before the next sunrise, so the panchang day is the tithi prevailing at sunrise. Indian Standard Time is UTC plus 5 hours 30 minutes with no daylight saving, mean time near Mirzapur. Cities west of that meridian, such as Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Amritsar, have solar noon after 12:00 on the clock. Cities east of it, such as Kolkata, Howrah, Guwahati, Patna, Bhubaneswar, and Ranchi, have solar noon before 12:00. That is why a Navratri date forwarded on a phone can be one sunrise wrong. Use the panchang of the city where the lamp is lit.
The chart is a separate devotion
Navratri does not select a mahadasha. If the native is in Rahu's eighteen years, the nine nights are a natural time for Durga worship because Durga is Rahu's usual remedial deity. If the native is in Venus's twenty years, the festival is still the festival, and marriage questions still belong to the 7th lord. Jyothish SI casts the personal chart with Lahiri ayanamsa. It does not replace a city panchang for ghatasthapana. Keep the two tools apart: the kundli for the life, the sunrise tithi for the nine nights.
Frequently asked questions
Which tithis are Navratri?
Shukla Pratipada through Navami, in Ashwin or in Chaitra. The tenth tithi is Vijayadashami, the close, and local custom decides the exact closing rite.
Why do cities disagree on the date?
The tithi in force at sunrise sets the panchang day. Sunrise differs across India even on one Asia/Kolkata clock, especially when the tithi changes near dawn.
Does Navratri change a running dasha?
No. Rahu still runs eighteen years and Venus twenty. The nights are a worship window beside the period, not a new Vimshottari lord.
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D1, D9, D10, dashas, yogas, and transits, the same calculations referenced in this article.