Today’s Tithi

In the Hindu lunar calendar, each day belongs to a tithi — a lunar phase that shapes festivals, fasting days and auspicious timings. Wondering what today’s tithi is? This page shows you instantly.

The tithi is derived from the Moon’s position relative to the Sun. Our tool estimates today’s tithi from the lunar cycle, so you can check whether it is a bright fortnight (Shukla Paksha) or a dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha) day, and which of the fifteen tithis is in force.

From Ekadashi fasts to Purnima celebrations, tithis decide the rhythm of the Hindu calendar. Whether you are planning a puja or are simply curious, this quick daily check keeps you in tune with the Moon.

What a Tithi Actually Is: a Twelve-Degree Day

A tithi sounds like a date, but it's really a measurement. As our FAQ below puts it, a tithi is the time the Moon takes to move 12 degrees away from the Sun — one-thirtieth of the full circle the Moon travels each lunar month, from new moon (0 degrees apart) to full moon (180 degrees) and back again. Thirty of them make a lunation, and the Hindu calendar counts its days in tithis instead of in rotations of the Earth.

That one swap explains everything slightly strange about this calendar. A solar day is a steady 24 hours, but a tithi lasts only as long as the Moon needs for those 12 degrees — about 23 hours and 37 minutes on average, and anywhere from under 20 to nearly 27 hours in reality, because the Moon doesn't move at a constant speed. So a tithi can begin at breakfast, end before the next sunrise, or stretch across parts of two civil days. Traditional calendars solve the puzzle with a sunrise rule: broadly, the tithi in force at sunrise names the day — which is why this page shows you the tithi running right now, and why two good calendars occasionally disagree by a day about a festival.

The Two Fortnights, and the Fifteen Names

The thirty tithis split into two packs of fifteen. Shukla Paksha, the bright fortnight, runs from the new moon to the full moon as the Moon waxes — each night visibly fatter than the last. Then the full moon tips over, and Krishna Paksha — the dark fortnight — takes the count back down toward the next new moon, the light leaking away a little more each night. And here's the tidy part: you only have to learn fifteen names, because the dark fortnight reuses the bright one's list, in the same order:

Pratipada, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dwadashi, Trayodashi, Chaturdashi. Fourteen numbered steps — and then the fifteenth refuses a number and takes a title instead: Purnima when it's the full moon closing the bright fortnight, Amavasya when it's the pitch-dark night closing the dark one. (That's why the display above sometimes shows "Purnima / Amavasya" — it's the same fifteenth seat, and the paksha line tells you which of the two is sitting in it.)

Say them aloud and you'll hear what they are: Sanskrit counting words wearing ceremonial dress. Eka — one — hides in plain sight inside Ekadashi (eleven); pancha, five, sits inside Panchami. Learn the rhythm once and the whole list sticks like a chant — fifteen steps up into the light, fifteen steps back down.

The Tithis People Actually Plan Around

Ask a family what tithi it is today and, nine times out of ten, the answer you get back is the name of whatever the tithi is for. A few carry famous cargo. Ekadashi — the eleventh, twice a month — is the fasting heavyweight: millions of people mark it by skipping a meal or eating simply, and some have kept the habit every fortnight for decades. Chaturthi is Ganesh's (the Bhadrapada bright-fortnight one opens the enormous Ganesh Chaturthi festival), while Ashtami and Navami carry two of the year's biggest birthdays: Krishna Janmashtami and Ram Navami. And the two title-holders close the show: Purnima, the full moon, gathers observances all year — Guru Purnima, Sharad Purnima and more — while Amavasya, the moonless night, gets the single biggest assignment of all: Diwali, blazing away on the darkest night of Kartik.

This is the practical heart of the tithi system: festivals in this calendar are pinned to lunar days, so they slide around the solar year — which is precisely why a page like this exists, and why grandmothers still consult the printed panchang before fixing a wedding date.

And the Months? Named After the Full Moon

Tithis are the days; the months have their own lunar logic, and it's a pretty one. A Hindu month is named for the star (nakshatra) near which that month's full moon appears. When the Purnima moon shines near Chitra, the month is Chaitra; near Vishakha comes Vaishakha; the full moon near Jyeshtha gives Jyeshtha; and so on through Shravana, Bhadrapada, Ashwin, Kartik (full moon near Krittika — the Pleiades), Margashirsha, Pausha, Magha, and Phalguna. Twelve names, one turning wheel, each month christened by its brightest night.

It also explains a small puzzle: because twelve lunar months run about eleven days shorter than a solar year — the same gap our Marriage Prediction page bumps into — the calendar periodically inserts a whole extra month, Adhik Maas, to catch up with the seasons. Without it, Diwali would wander through the year the way Ramadan does. With it, the festivals stay in their seasons, give or take a month — and the tithi you checked above stays meaningfully connected to the sky you can see tonight.

Why This Page Honestly Says "Approximate"

You'll have noticed the word approximate near the top, and it earns its place. Our display estimates today's tithi from the average lunar cycle — a clean, steady rhythm. The real Moon is messier: its speed varies, so real tithi boundaries land at hours no average can predict, and every so often the calendar performs its strangest tricks — a kshaya tithi, so short it begins and ends between two sunrises and gets skipped entirely, or an adhika tithi that spans two sunrises and gets counted twice. Pinning those down takes precise astronomy and a location — exactly what a proper panchang provides.

So use this page the way it's offered: a quick, honest daily check that keeps you in tune with the Moon's phase and fortnight. For fasts, pujas and wedding dates, do what the note above says and confirm with your local panchang — the tradition has kept those books for centuries for a reason. If the Vedic side of all this fascinates you, our Kundali Matching page is where this calendar meets two birth charts — and for a lighter daily habit, the Love Horoscope is this page's romantic cousin: one sign, one fresh reading, every morning.