चेन्नई पंचांग · Chennai Panchang Friday, 31 July 2026 · Ashadha Krishna Dvitiya · Madras
Sunrise in Chennai, Tamil Nadu is 05:54 IST today — 12 minutes later than New Delhi, because the city sits at 80.27°E on a clock set for 82.5°E. Every reading below is taken at that sunrise, which is the traditional anchor, so the boundary times here can differ by minutes from an almanac typeset for another meridian.
Today at a glance
Tithi timeline
| Day | Tithi | Ends |
|---|---|---|
| Yesterday · Thu 30 Jul | Krishna Pratipada | 21:15 |
| Today · Fri 31 Jul | Krishna Dvitiya | 22:20 |
| Tomorrow · Sat 1 Aug | Krishna Tritiya | 23:00 |
Today in Chennai
Maargazhi, the Tamil solar month from mid-December, is the one that reorganises Chennai — the kutcheri season and the Tiruppavai recitations both belong to it, and their morning sessions are keyed to the Brahma Muhurta before the sunrise printed on this page. Thai Pongal falls not on a tithi at all but on the Sun's entry into Makara, the same ingress this page calls Makar Sankranti.
Chennai is running Ashadha Krishna Dvitiya today, which holds until 22:20. Keep anything you are starting fresh outside Rahu Kaal 10:40–12:15; the cleanest window of the day is Abhijit at 11:50–12:41.
This week in Chennai
| Date | Tithi | Nakshatra | Rahu Kaal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri 31 Jul | Krishna Dvitiya | Dhanishta | 10:40–12:15 |
| Sat 1 Aug | Krishna Tritiya | Shatabhisha | 09:05–10:40 |
| Sun 2 Aug | Krishna Chaturthi | Purva Bhadrapada | 17:01–18:36 |
| Mon 3 Aug | Krishna Panchami | Uttara Bhadrapada | 07:30–09:05 |
| Tue 4 Aug | Krishna Shashthi | Revati | 15:25–17:00 |
| Wed 5 Aug | Krishna Saptami | Ashwini | 12:15–13:50 |
| Thu 6 Aug | Krishna Ashtami | Bharani | 13:50–15:25 |
Chennai month calendars
Frequently asked questions
What time is sunrise in Chennai today, and why does it differ from New Delhi?
Sunrise in Chennai today is 05:54 IST and sunset is 18:37 IST — 12 minutes later than New Delhi. The cause is longitude, not the calendar: the whole country keeps one clock set to 82.5°E while Chennai sits at 80.27°E, and every degree is worth about four minutes of sky. Everything on this page — the tithi and nakshatra readings, Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda, Gulika and the Choghadiya split — is anchored to that local sunrise rather than to a Delhi almanac's.
Which lunar-month system does this page use for Chennai, and does it change the tithi?
Two calendars run side by side in Chennai and this page only speaks one of them. The lunar month named on this page is amanta, the South Indian convention, and it governs tithi-based vrats. Tamil civil dating is solar: the month changes when the Sun changes sign, so a Tamil almanac prints Aadi or Maargazhi where this page prints Shravana or Margashirsha, and the two systems drift against each other by design. The tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana on this page are the same in both. Today the amanta reckoning calls this month Ashadha and the purnimanta reckoning calls it Shravana; the tithi is the same number in both. If you were quoted a date in the purnimanta system, the day is still the same day.
What this page cannot tell you
This is a panchang, not a birth chart. The tithi, nakshatra, yoga, karana and kaal windows above are the same for everyone standing in this city today; none of them knows your Moon sign, your running dasha, or the lagna that would rise at the hour you pick. Several observances also follow a rule this page does not apply — Janmashtami is settled at midnight, Diwali at pradosh, some ekadashi vratas by their parana window — so a temple's announced date can sit a day either side of the tithi marked here. Where that matters, check against your own family almanac; a disagreement between two panchangs is usually a difference of convention, not of fact.
How these timings were computed
Sunrise and sunset come from a NOAA solar-position model applied to Chennai's actual coordinates (13.0827°N, 80.2707°E), not to a district centroid or a state capital. Tithi, nakshatra, yoga and karana are read at that same local sunrise from a sidereal ephemeris using the Lahiri ayanamsa, and their end times are found by bisection to about a minute. Rahu Kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika are the weekday-selected eighths of the real daylight span, which is why they move through the year instead of sitting at a fixed clock hour. Nothing on this page is copied from a printed almanac.