Sacred Learning
The daily card on the homepage is a minute’s reading. These are the full teachings behind it — what a tithi actually is, how a priest chooses a muhūrtham, what Pradosham is and why it is kept at dusk. Each page states where it comes from and whether Sri Kumar Gurukkal has reviewed it.
Panchāṅgam
- What a Panchāṅgam actually isPañcāṅga means “five limbs”.
- What a tithi is, and why it is not a dayA tithi is the time the Moon takes to gain twelve degrees on the Sun.
- What a nakṣatra isThe path the Moon takes through the sky is divided into twenty-seven equal parts, each named for the star or group of stars that marks it.
- Why two Panchāṅgams can disagreeAlmost always because they are using different conventions, not because one is wrong.
- Rāhu Kālam, Yamagaṇḍam, Guḷika and DurmuhūrtamThese are the parts of the day that tradition sets aside for beginning something new.
Muhūrtham
- How a priest chooses a muhūrthamA muhūrtham is the span of time chosen for a ceremony to begin.
- Why a muhūrtham changes between India and CaliforniaBecause the almanac is anchored to sunrise, and sunrise is a local event.
- Tārā Bala and Chandra Bala — what they measure, and what this site showsTwo traditional tests that compare the day with the person, rather than judging the day on its own.
Observance
- Pradosham — the hour and a half at duskPradosham is the Trayodaśī — the thirteenth lunar day — kept for Śiva, and it is observed not at sunrise but in the pradoṣa kāla: roughly the hour and a half around sunset.
- Ekādaśī — the eleventh, and the day afterEkādaśī is the eleventh lunar day, which falls twice in every lunar month — once in the waxing fortnight and once in the waning.
- Amāvāsyā and Pūrṇimā — the two ends of the monthAmāvāsyā is the new moon, the moment the Moon catches up with the Sun and the lunar month ends.
Ceremony
- Why Gaṇapati is worshipped firstAlmost every Hindu ceremony opens with Gaṇapati.
How these are prepared
Pages marked as methodological explain how this site computes something and are sourced to the methodology page. Pages describing traditional observance say so on the page, name their sources, and do not present themselves as Sri Kumar Gurukkal’s personal ruling unless he has reviewed them. Nothing here invents a verse, a citation or a procedure — where a practice varies by region or sampradāya, the page says so instead of choosing one. See the editorial and ritual standards.