What is Rahu Kaal?
Rahu Kaal is a daily window of about 90 minutes, ruled by the shadow-planet Rahu, traditionally avoided for starting anything important. The day from sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and a different part is Rahu Kaal on each weekday — so it is never at a fixed clock time, and it depends entirely on your city’s real sunrise and sunset. Astronaad computes both from the Sun’s actual position, so the timing is accurate to the minute for each city above.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Rahu Kaal?
- Rahu Kaal is a daily window of about 90 minutes, ruled by the shadow-planet Rahu, traditionally avoided for starting anything important. The daytime from sunrise to sunset is split into eight equal parts and a different part is Rahu Kaal on each weekday.
- Why does Rahu Kaal differ by city?
- Because it is measured between your local sunrise and sunset, which change with latitude, longitude and date. A table made for one city is wrong for another — so we compute it from the real Sun position for each city individually.
- Is Rahu Kaal the same every day?
- No. It falls in a different one-eighth slice of the day depending on the weekday, and the slice itself shifts as sunrise and sunset move through the year.
- What should be avoided during Rahu Kaal?
- Traditionally, new beginnings — travel, signing, purchases, weddings and launches. Routine ongoing work is considered unaffected. For an unavoidable start, the auspicious Abhijit Muhurat around midday is preferred instead.