Panchang - Calculation and importance of Karana in Panchang

A karana is half of a tithi in duration. A karana is the time required for the angular distance between the sun and the moon to increase in steps of 6° starting from 0°.

Shukla Paksha

Karana Calculations for Shukla Paksha Tithi (Full Moon Phase)

तिथिर्द्विध्नी द्विकोना च शुक्लपक्षे सदा बुधै:।

शेषांङ्के सप्तभिर्भागस्तिथ्यादौ करणं मतम्॥

              

                            Multiply a Tithi by 2 and after substracting 2, divide it by 7. The resultant number will be identical to the Karana of the 1st half of the day counted from Bava, while succeeding Karana will rule the second half of the day.

Example: Suppose you wish to fond out the ruling Karana on the 12th ( Dwadashi) Tithi of Krishna Paksha

Multiply Tithi by 2 --- 12*2=24

divide the sum by 7

we get 3 as a remainder

so counting from Bava we get Taitil as 3rd Karana which will rule the 1st half of that particular day.


Krishna Paksha

But calculation of Karan in Krishna Paksha is little different

कृष्णपक्षे तिथिर्द्विघ्नी मुनिभिर्भाग माहरेत 

शेषांगकेन बवाद्यम च तीथ्यादौ करणम विदुः||१||  

Multiply the Tithi (The new phase moon) by 2 and divide the sum by 7, the remainder number will denote the name of the Karana prevailing in the first half of the Tithi when counted from Bava Karana. The succeeding karana will occur in the second half of the day.

Another Formula for calculating Karana:

 (Longitude of Moon) - (Longitude of Sun)

  6

Quotient tells the number of Karna passed

30 tithis so 30 * 2 = 60 karnas

But There are eleven karanas in total.

A  tithi consist of 12° of Longitudinal difference between Sun and Moon at particular point of time and Karana being half of Tithi will be formed with 6° longitudinal difference between luminaries.
As such there will be two Karana in one Tithi. These two Karana will operate at tendem in a day.
In all there are 11 Karanas which rotates in a certain specific pattern in 30 Tithis ( 15 of Krishna paksha and 15 of Shukala Paksha) in a lunar month. The pattern is like this 
Seven Movable Karana appear 8 times reflecting total of 56 /karanas out of 60 in a lunar month. The remaining 4 are called fixed Karanas and appear only once in this duration of one lunar month under a fixed scheme of things.

Krishna Paksha starts with Bava Karana while Kinstughana will be 1st Karana of the Shukala Paksha

Of the eleven karanas, four are fixed and occurs only once in a cycle. The remaining 7 karanas repeat eight times to cover the remaining 56 steps.

Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanij, Visti, Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga and Kinstughna

Highlighted ones occur only once a month

They start with Bava on the second half of the first tithi and repeat themselves in the same order eight times in a lunar month. The four fixed Karanas start with the 2^nd half of the 14th day of the Krishna paksha, Amavasya and the first half of the 1^st Tithi of the Shukla Paksha. The first karana in Shukla Paksha is always the fixed Kintughna. The fixed karanas do not repeat themselves. 

List of Karana

*Karana -	Half a lunar day. The karanas indicate actions, which can support the tithi.	Nature of native born in particular Karna as per MaanSagri
1. BAVA -	Auspicious, Honorable, Business, Starting work, Health. People born in this Karana will be poor but will be kind and content with what they get. They will be successful if they pursue career with the Army.	Proud, Religious, Righteous deeds
2. BALAVA-	Honour, learning, respect. The person born in this Karana will be handsome, courageous, sacrificing and will be interested in sports and extra-curricular activities.	Education, Wealth and happiness
3. KAULAVA-	Social, Spiritual, Relationships, Marriage. Those born in this Karana will be intent on doing bad deeds as their earlier environment was not congenial to molding a good character	Friend of friends, Self respectful
4. TAITILA-	Speech, communication, promotion, construction. The person born in this Karana will be soft hearted, even tempered and with strong convictions. Constitutionally the person will be strong.	Owner of several houses
5. GARA-	Hardworking, Agriculture, new undertakings. The person of this Karana will be a good strategist, imaginative and talkative.	Agriculturist and hardworking
6.VANIJA-	Wealthy, clever, business, relationships. The person of this Karana will have good business acumen and will be capable of succeeding in any type of business.	Gains from business
7. VISHTI-	Self-reliant, only auspicious for harsh activity, fighting. The person of this Karana will be heartless, without friends and will be bent on doing bad deeds.	Expert in poisons, adulterous and bad deeds
8. SHAKUNI-	Worship, advising, psychic, intelligent, healing. The person of this Karana will be calm, composed, intelligent, gifted with intuition and full of good deeds	Vaidhya, manufacturer of medicines
9. CHATUSHPADA-	Ancestors, Brahmin, government. The person of this Karana will do independent business, take great pains in work and will be truthful.	Devotion to God, veterinarian and cow-herd
10. NAGA-	Cruel, deeds, dangerous activities, Unstable. The person of this Karana will be a specialist and Successful in professions connected with minerals. Will be of good character and capable of mesmerizing and catching snakes	Doing difficult jobs, well wisher of sailors, with bad luck and lively eyes
11. KINTUGHNA-	Joyful, Marriage, ceremony, sacrifice. Persons of this Karana are intelligent but may be bent on doing bad deeds; are heartless, unpopular and may suffer much in life.	Get the desired and auspicious results by good deeds

More Information on Karanas of Panchang

Type	Name	Ruling  Deity
Fixed	Shakuni	Its ruling deity is Garuda (eagle). Shakuni Karana falling in the night in the 14th day of the dark moon is suitable for hold-ups, committing theft and the like crimes, driving away enemies and soldiers, taming birds, starting medication and all kinds of war operations.
Fixed	Chatushpada	Its ruling deity is Vrishabha (Bull). This Karana falling on Amavasya (New Moon) is suitable for vanquishing enemies through Tantric methods It gives success in all business related to four footed animals, particularly cattle. Shraddha and Tarpanam work done in this karana also gives quite good results.
Fixed	Naga	Its ruling deity is Naga (deified form of serpent). Naga Karana falling in Amavasya (New Moon) is more suited for destructive and subversive acts.
Fixed	Kaustuva/ Kimstughna	Its ruling deity is Kubera (Lord of wealth). This karana falling on Sukla Paksha Pratipada (1st Waxing Moon Phase) causes Vaisvadeva Yoga ,which is held to be the best karana for doing any work
Movable	Bava	Its ruling deity is Lord Vishnu. This Karana is suited for all kinds of works, both durable or/and temporary one. The Karana is also suitable for leaving a place or a house and even for entering a new place or new house.
Movable	Balava	Its ruling deity is Brahma. This Karana is said to be exclusively superior for performance marriage and other auspicious Samskaras of the Brahmanas.
Movable	Taitila	Its ruling deity is Indra. It is suitable for Rajakarya (government affairs).
Movable	Kaulava	Its ruling deity is Chandra (The moon). It is suited for Maitri (Friendship) and for all works of a permanent and durable nature.
Movable	Gara	Its ruling deity is Vasudeva. It is suited for animal husbandry works, cattle trade, dairy trade, fodder trade, ploughing the field, Vastu karma or construction of houses, buildings and other similar projects works.
Movable	Vanija	Its ruling deity is Manibhadra. It is suited for sale transactions and sellers may reap good profits whereas buyers may incur losses in this Karana.
Movable	Vishti	Its ruling deity is Mirtyu or death. It is held to be a very inauspicious Karana for performance of any important work. Work started in this Karana may have little success. Vishti is also known as Bhadra

Anju Anand ©

To be conti…