Vara: the weekdays and their rulers
A vara is a weekday. Jyotish names seven varas, each tied to a graha ruler, and the day is counted from sunrise to sunrise.
What it is
The varas are Ravivara (Sunday), Somavara (Monday), Mangalavara (Tuesday), Budhavara (Wednesday), Guruvara (Thursday), Shukravara (Friday) and Shanivara (Saturday). Their rulers are the Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn in that order.
How it is worked out or read
A Jyotish day begins at sunrise, so a time before sunrise belongs to the previous vara. The panchang uses the vara of the sunrise day for all its timings.
Where it appears on this site
The vara is shown in the panchang, and it is used by the muhurat finder and the Rahu Kaal calculation.
Why the weekday is named after a graha
Each weekday in Jyotish is named after a graha, and the naming reflects a traditional association of day and planet. The rulers are the Sun for Sunday, the Moon for Monday, Mars for Tuesday, Mercury for Wednesday, Jupiter for Thursday, Venus for Friday and Saturn for Saturday. The order is not the same as the order of the days in the Western week, which follows a different tradition. The Jyotish sequence is a fixed association of day and ruler, and it is used in the rules for muhurat and for the Rahu Kaal calculation.
How the day begins
The Jyotish day begins at sunrise, not at midnight. A time at 02:00 on a Tuesday morning still belongs to Monday in the sunrise convention, if the sunrise of Tuesday has not yet occurred. This is important for a birth or an event near midnight. The panchang applies the same convention to all its timings, so the vara shown for a date is the vara of the sunrise on that date. A reader should keep this in mind when comparing with a civil calendar.
Using the vara in practice
Traditional texts give the weekday as one factor in choosing a time. The vara alone rarely decides a question, but it is combined with the nakshatra and the tithi in the muhurat rules. A reader who wants to use the vara should check which rule the tradition follows and whether it requires the weekday at sunrise, at midday or at a specific moment. The muhurat finder on this site filters by weekday at sunrise, and states that rule on the page.
Vara in the day's rhythm
The vara gives the day its name and its ruler, and a reader who plans a day around the vara is working with the day's basic rhythm. The vara is fixed for the whole sunrise-to-sunrise day, which makes it the most stable of the panchang's limbs.
Weekdays and the rhythm of work
Many people plan their working week around the weekdays, and the Jyotish vara offers a traditional way to think about the rhythm of effort across seven days. A reader can use it to see which days carry which general tone, as a loose guide rather than a rule.