Daily Panchang for Your City: Why New York's Tithi Isn't Delhi's
A panchang is read at your own sunrise. In 2026 New York's tithi at sunrise differs from Delhi's on 153 days, and 12 of 24 Ekadashi fasts fall a day earlier. Who computes a true city panchang, and how to check yours.
Supastro wrote this. Where another service does a job better, I say so. Competitor facts come from each site's own pages; the 2026 figures come from Supastro's panchang engine, spot-checked against Drik Panchang's city pages.
A panchang is not a national bulletin. It is the sky read at one place, at one moment: your sunrise. The Delhi panchang your family forwards on WhatsApp is right in Delhi. In New York it names the wrong lunar day on more than four mornings in ten, and puts 12 of this year's 24 Ekadashi fasts on the wrong date. I computed every day of 2026 for eleven cities to prove it.
Can you recommend an astrology service with daily Panchang for my city?
Yes. Supastro's free Panchang computes the day for any place you type, reads all five limbs at your local sunrise and explains each one in plain English, with no sign-up. Drik Panchang is the other serious choice: more cities by name, regional calendars, Hindi and phone apps. Both compute from your city's coordinates. Avoid any panchang that never asks where you are.
If you want one app on your phone, install Drik Panchang: our panchang apps comparison ranks it first for that job and Supastro fifth, because we have no store app, no regional calendars and an English-only interface. This post judges a narrower job: the correct panchang for your city, today, in words you understand.
Why does the panchang change from city to city?
Because each limb is named by whatever holds at your sunrise, and sunrise is local. The five limbs, in plain words:
- Tithi, the lunar day: each 12 degrees the Moon gains on the Sun.
- Nakshatra, the Moon's star: which of 27 slices of the sky the Moon is crossing.
- Yoga, the Sun and Moon added together, cut into 27 slices.
- Karana, half a tithi.
- Vara, the weekday, which in the Vedic count turns at sunrise, not midnight.
The part most people miss: a tithi ends at the same instant everywhere on Earth, because it is just an angle between the Sun and the Moon. Sunrise does not. The same instant falls before sunrise in one city and after it in another, so the two cities get different days.
Take 10 September 2026. Chaturdashi, the fourteenth lunar day, ends at 10:33 am Indian time. Delhi's sun rose just after 6 am, inside Chaturdashi, so Delhi's day is Chaturdashi. That same ending is 6:03 am in London, where the sun rises at 6:27, and 1:03 am in New York, where it rises at 6:32. Both wake into Amavasya, the new Moon. Drik Panchang's pages for all three cities show exactly this.
Sunrise as the start of the day is not a modern convenience. Parashara counts the day's planetary hours from sunrise to sunrise, and the Prasna Marga splits daylight into eight parts counted from sunrise. Rahu Kaal is one of those eighths.
How often is your city's panchang different from Delhi's?
Inside India, rarely. Abroad, constantly. Find your city:
| City | Days in 2026 the tithi at sunrise is not Delhi's | Days the nakshatra at sunrise is not Delhi's | Ekadashi fasts on a different date (of 24) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mumbai | 3 (0.8%) | 3 | 0 |
| Chennai | 9 (2.5%) | 4 | 0 |
| Kolkata | 17 (4.7%) | 9 | 0 |
| Dubai | 21 (5.8%) | 24 | 2, a day earlier |
| Singapore | 28 (7.7%) | 26 | 1, a day later |
| Sydney | 73 (20.0%) | 69 | 2, a day later |
| London | 85 (23.3%) | 75 | 6, a day earlier |
| New York | 153 (41.9%) | 157 | 12, a day earlier |
| Toronto | 161 (44.1%) | 164 | 13, a day earlier |
| San Francisco | 202 (55.3%) | 200 | 14, a day earlier |
Method: every day of 2026, the tithi and nakshatra holding at local sunrise (the upper edge of the Sun clearing the horizon, standard refraction), Supastro's panchang engine, same calendar date compared. Ekadashi by the Smarta rules in our Hindu calendar, matched fast by fast.
The rule of thumb: count the hours between your sunrise and Delhi's. Beyond the first hour, each hour adds about 4% of days on which your tithi is not Delhi's. London's sunrise comes about 5 hours after Delhi's (23% of days), New York's about 10 (42%), San Francisco's about 13 (55%). Sydney's comes about 5 hours before (20%).
Why is Ekadashi on a different day in the US?
Because the fast follows the tithi at your sunrise. Under the Smarta rule that Drik Panchang and Supastro print, you fast on the day whose sunrise holds Ekadashi, with set exceptions when Ekadashi covers two sunrises or slips between two. In New York 12 of 2026's 24 Ekadashis fall a day before Delhi's; in San Francisco 14.
Aja Ekadashi fell on 6 September in New York and 7 September in Delhi; Papankusha falls on 21 and 22 October, Rama Ekadashi on 4 and 5 November. Fast in New York on your parents' Indian date and you are a day late on half of this year's Ekadashis. Devotion does not move the Moon.
Drik Panchang's own 2026 lists for New Delhi and New York agree with all 24 of our dates in each city. Our 2026 Ekadashi calendar and Hindu calendar compute your city's year, Vaishnava dates included.
Does Rahu Kaal change between Indian cities?
Yes, by more than an hour. Rahu Kaal is one eighth of your own daylight, sunrise to sunset, and the weekday picks which eighth; Thursday's is the sixth. On Thursday 10 September 2026 it began at 12:53 pm in Guwahati and at 2:09 pm in Ahmedabad, 76 minutes apart on the same Indian clock. Only 17 minutes were Rahu Kaal in every Indian city.
With a 6 am sunrise and 6 pm sunset, Thursday's slot would be 1:30 to 3:00 pm. That day it started 37 minutes earlier in Guwahati and 39 minutes later in Ahmedabad. One Rahu Kaal time for a whole country is a guess. The Rahu Kaal tool gives your place today and the next seven days.
Does the sunrise definition matter?
Barely. Drik Panchang and Supastro count sunrise when the upper edge of the Sun clears the horizon, allowing for the air bending its light. mPanchang says it uses the middle of the disc and ignores that bending. That sunrise comes about 4 minutes later in Delhi and changed the tithi at sunrise on 1 day of 2026. Your city changes it on 153 days in New York. Get the city right first.
Which services give a true panchang for your city?
| App | Where it computes for | What you get each day | Free or paid | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supastro | Any place you search for; 30 ready city pages | Five limbs at local sunrise with end times and plain-English meanings, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika, Abhijit, Amrit Kaal, vrats, Choghadiya | Free, no sign-up, no ads | A clear daily read for your exact city |
| Drik Panchang | More than 100,000 named cities, by its own count | Every timing incl. Brahma Muhurta, nine regional calendars, both month systems | Free; Android and iOS apps | The fullest almanac, Hindi, an app |
| Prokerala | Any city you type | Five limbs, Rahu Kaal, Abhijit, Amrit Kaal, Brahma Muhurat, festivals; says it uses Lahiri | Free; premium reports linked | Brahma Muhurat and regional-language pages |
| AstroSage | The city you enter | Five limbs, bad periods, Abhijit, a sunrise chart and planet positions | Free page; sells gemstones, yantras and astrologer calls | Planet positions at sunrise |
| mPanchang | A location label; no coverage stated | Five limbs, Rahu Kaal, Abhijit, Amrit Kaal; Choghadiya on its own page | Free; promotes paid astrologer consultations | A quick look if you already use it |
Supastro reads your city's own coordinates and time-zone rules, so spring and autumn clock changes are handled, and it remembers your city and refreshes each morning. Each limb gets one plain line on what it favours. There are 30 ready city pages, from Delhi to New York and London, and the tool takes any other place. Where others beat us: no Brahma Muhurta, planetary hours sit on the Choghadiya page, English only, no store app, and the tool opens on New Delhi until you type your city.
Drik Panchang is the reference almanac: every timing, nine regional Indian calendars from Assamese to Telugu, and phone apps; it says it skips cities so far north that the sun stays up for part of the year. Prokerala opens on Ujjain until you change it. AstroSage sits beside a gemstone shop. mPanchang pushes paid astrologers.
How do you check that a panchang is really for your city?
- The place line names your city, not Delhi, Ujjain or a country.
- Sunrise matches your weather app within a minute or two.
- Every limb has an end time in your clock, not Indian time.
- Rahu Kaal moves day to day. A fixed time every Thursday means nobody computed it.
- Clock changes are applied in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia.
- Fasts are dated for your city, not copied from India.
- The ayanamsa is stated (Lahiri for most almanacs), because it fixes the nakshatra and Sankranti dates.
Frequently asked questions
Is the panchang the same all over India?
Nearly, not exactly. India runs on one clock, but Guwahati sees sunrise more than an hour before Ahmedabad. In 2026 Kolkata's tithi at sunrise differs from Delhi's on 17 days, Chennai's on 9, Mumbai's on 3, and Rahu Kaal differs every day.
Which panchang should I follow in the USA?
The one computed for the city you live in. New York's tithi at sunrise differs from Delhi's on 42% of the days of 2026, and 12 of 24 Ekadashi fasts fall a day earlier. Use a panchang that asks for your city, such as Supastro's or Drik Panchang, never a forwarded Indian one.
When does the panchang day start?
At local sunrise, not midnight. The tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana holding at your sunrise name the whole day, and the Vedic weekday also turns at sunrise. Anything at 4 am still belongs to the previous Vedic day.
Is Rahu Kaal the same time every day?
No. It is one eighth of the time between your sunrise and sunset, so it moves daily, with the seasons and with your city. The weekday only decides which eighth. A fixed Rahu Kaal table assumes a 6 am sunrise and a 6 pm sunset.
Does Supastro's panchang work for any city?
Yes. The free Panchang takes any place you search for and computes it on the spot; 30 cities also have ready pages. It cannot serve places near the poles on days the sun never rises or never sets, because there is no sunrise to count from.
