Karana
A karana is half of a tithi (lunar day). Every tithi is cut into two karanas, so a lunar month of thirty tithis holds sixty of them. The karana at a birth is the last of the five limbs of the panchaanga, hora's almanac of the moment.
Six degrees at a time
A tithi lasts while the Moon gains 12° on the Sun, measured in the nirayana (sidereal) zodiac; a karana lasts while it gains 6°. The first karana of the month runs from the new moon, when the Moon is 0° ahead, until it is 6° ahead, the second from 6° to 12°, and so on: sixty halves of 6° around the circle. Like a tithi, a karana has no fixed length on the clock. It is usually a little under half a day, and can start and end at any hour.
Eleven names for sixty halves
There are only eleven karanas, so most names come back many times a month. They are of two kinds.
- Seven that repeat: Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitula, Garija, Vanija and Vishti. They follow each other in this order, round after round, through the 2nd half of the month to the 57th: 56 halves, eight full rounds of seven.
- Four that are fixed: Sakuna, Chatushpada, Naga and Kimstughna. Each falls on the same half in every month. The last three halves of the month are Sakuna, the second half of Krishna Chaturdasi, then Chatushpada and Naga, the two halves of Amavasya, the new moon. Kimstughna comes straight after the new moon, as the first half of Sukla Pratipat, and so opens the month.
The fixed four thus sit together around the new moon, and the seven repeating karanas fill the rest of the month between them.
The table
The table gives every tithi of the month with the karana of its first and its second half, worked out by hora from the Moon's lead over the Sun.
| Tithi | First half | Second half |
|---|---|---|
| Sukla Pratipat (1) | Kimstughna | Bava |
| Sukla Dwitiya (2) | Balava | Kaulava |
| Sukla Tritiya (3) | Taitula | Garija |
| Sukla Chaturthi (4) | Vanija | Vishti |
| Sukla Panchami (5) | Bava | Balava |
| Sukla Shashti (6) | Kaulava | Taitula |
| Sukla Saptami (7) | Garija | Vanija |
| Sukla Ashtami (8) | Vishti | Bava |
| Sukla Navami (9) | Balava | Kaulava |
| Sukla Dasami (10) | Taitula | Garija |
| Sukla Ekadasi (11) | Vanija | Vishti |
| Sukla Dwadasi (12) | Bava | Balava |
| Sukla Trayodasi (13) | Kaulava | Taitula |
| Sukla Chaturdasi (14) | Garija | Vanija |
| Sukla Paurnami (15) | Vishti | Bava |
| Krishna Pratipat (16) | Balava | Kaulava |
| Krishna Dwitiya (17) | Taitula | Garija |
| Krishna Tritiya (18) | Vanija | Vishti |
| Krishna Chaturthi (19) | Bava | Balava |
| Krishna Panchami (20) | Kaulava | Taitula |
| Krishna Shashti (21) | Garija | Vanija |
| Krishna Saptami (22) | Vishti | Bava |
| Krishna Ashtami (23) | Balava | Kaulava |
| Krishna Navami (24) | Taitula | Garija |
| Krishna Dasami (25) | Vanija | Vishti |
| Krishna Ekadasi (26) | Bava | Balava |
| Krishna Dwadasi (27) | Kaulava | Taitula |
| Krishna Trayodasi (28) | Garija | Vanija |
| Krishna Chaturdasi (29) | Vishti | Sakuna |
| Krishna Amavasya (30) | Chatushpada | Naga |
A worked example
On 1 January 2000 at 12:00 UT, at Greenwich, the tithi page finds the Moon 302°56′57″ ahead of the Sun (see the chart).
- 302°56′57″ divided by 6° is 50, with 2°56′57″ left over: fifty halves are complete, so the 51st is running, and the Moon has 3°03′03″ still to gain before it ends.
- The 51st half is the first half of the 26th tithi, Krishna Ekadasi.
- The first half of the month is Kimstughna, so the 51st is the 50th of the repeating halves. Seven rounds of seven make 49, so it opens the eighth round: the karana is Bava. The table's row for Krishna Ekadasi says the same.
In the chart
The panchaanga on the chart page gives the karana at the birth; its value there links to this page. The table under it tells when that karana started and when it ends.
Next comes the vaara and hora: the weekday and the 24 parts of the Vedic day, both counted from sunrise.
Book reference: P.V.R. Narasimha Rao, Vedic Astrology: An Integrated Approach, chapter 1, § 1.3.10. Where to get the book