Inauspicious Timing
Today's Rahu Kaal
New Delhi · Thursday, September 10, 2026
Rahu Kaal is the one and a half hour stretch of each day placed under the shadow-planet Rahu, traditionally avoided for starting anything important. The daylight from sunrise to sunset is cut into eight equal segments, and one of them belongs to Rahu — a different segment on each weekday. Alongside it sit two related inauspicious segments, Yamaganda and Gulika Kalam, and together these three are the timings most Indian households check before beginning a journey, a purchase or a new venture.
Today's inauspicious segments
Day boundaries
The three inauspicious segments
Rahu Kaal is the best known, but it is one of a trio. Yamaganda (or Yamaghanta) is ruled by the influence of Yama and is held to obstruct results — work begun in it is said to struggle to complete. Gulika Kalam, the segment of Gulika (a sub-body of Saturn, also called Mandi), is the gentlest of the three: many traditions treat Gulika as actually favourable for enduring, repeatable acts precisely because whatever begins in it tends to recur — so it is avoided for one-off ventures but sometimes chosen for things one wants to last. The live card above lists all three with their exact windows for your city and date.
All three are single continuous segments, unlike choghadiya's rotating good-and-bad pattern; they simply mark the parts of the day the classical texts advise beginning nothing new.
How the daily segment is found
Take the length of daylight and divide it into eight equal parts. Rahu Kaal is a specific one of those eight, fixed by the weekday: on Monday it is the second part, Saturday the third, Friday the fourth, Wednesday the fifth, Thursday the sixth, Tuesday the seventh and Sunday the eighth. A widely used memory aid orders the weekdays so the segment steps predictably, but because it is anchored to real sunrise and the true length of the day, the clock time shifts with the season and the city — Rahu Kaal in the morning for one weekday can fall in the afternoon on another.
This is why a printed almanac time is only ever approximate: the window above is recomputed from your selected city's sunrise and sunset, so it is right for where you are, not for a reference meridian.
What to avoid — and what is exempt
The convention is to not begin anything auspicious or important during Rahu Kaal: no signing, no launching, no departing on a journey, no ceremony. The key word is begin — work already underway is not thought to be harmed by crossing into the window, and daily routine, ongoing duties and genuine emergencies are always exempt. Many practitioners also hold that Rahu Kaal does not apply once an activity has an established, continuous momentum, or to acts of a purely Rahu-natured kind.
These are traditional timing cautions for reference, not personal predictions; they describe the day, not any one person's chart.
Frequently asked questions
What is Rahu Kaal used for?
It marks a roughly 90-minute daily window traditionally avoided for starting important things — journeys, purchases, signings, ceremonies. The exact start and end for your city are in the card above.
Is Gulika Kalam always bad?
Gulika is the mildest of the three inauspicious segments. Because acts begun in it tend to repeat, it is avoided for one-off ventures but is sometimes deliberately chosen for things one wants to endure.
Does Rahu Kaal apply to work already in progress?
No. The caution is about beginning something new. Ongoing work, routine duties and emergencies are considered exempt.
See also the full Panchang for today — or Choghadiya · Shubh Muhurat · Abhijit Muhurat.
Timings use classical Vedic computation (Lahiri ayanamsa, Drik) for the selected city. Auspicious and inauspicious windows are traditional classifications for reference, not personal predictions.