Choghadiya: the eight-part day
Choghadiya is a traditional system that divides the day and the night into fixed periods, each given a name that describes its general quality.
What it is
The standard names are Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Char, Rog, Kal and Udveg. The day and night are each divided into eight parts, and the sequence of names depends on the weekday.
How it is worked out or read
This site does not yet compute choghadiya. The weekday sequence in the printed tables differs between sources, so a table would need checking against a published one before it is used.
Where it appears on this site
Choghadiya is not in the muhurat finder. The muhurat article explains the wider idea.
The seven names
Choghadiya uses seven names for periods of the day and night: Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Char, Rog, Kal and Udveg. Each name describes the general quality of a period, from the most favourable to the most difficult. The names are traditional, and the reader should see them as a vocabulary for describing the mood of a time rather than as fixed rules.
How the periods are laid out
The day from sunrise to sunset and the night from sunset to the next sunrise are each divided into eight parts, and the names run through the parts in a sequence that depends on the weekday. Because the day and night lengths change with the season, the periods are longer or shorter at different times of the year. The panchang for a city gives the exact sequence only where it is published, and this site does not yet compute it.
Using choghadiya with care
Choghadiya is widely used in popular almanacs, and printed tables differ in their sequences. A reader who uses a table should check its source, its sunrise convention and its weekday order before trusting it. Until the site has verified a table against a published source, choghadiya is described here as a traditional scheme rather than as a computed result.
Choghadiya as a planning vocabulary
Many people use choghadiya less as a strict calendar and more as a vocabulary for the mood of a period. Calling a time Labh or Shubh gives a quick way to describe a window that feels suitable for a particular kind of activity, and calling a time Rog or Kal warns that it may be better used for rest or routine. Used this way, the names are a helpful shorthand, and the reader keeps the decision with the people involved.
Because the traditional names carry long associations, a reader who uses them should be clear about their origin. The periods are a convention of the almanac, and the meanings are a traditional description of how each name is read.
Why sequences differ between tables
Two printed tables can give different sequences for the same weekday, because they start the count at different points or use different sunrise conventions. A reader who compares two tables and finds them disagreeing should not assume that either is careless. The likely cause is the convention used, and the reader should choose one table and keep to it for a whole season.