How many choghadiya are there in a day in Gangtok?

Eight in the day half, from sunrise to sunset, and eight more in the night half, from sunset to the following sunrise — sixteen in all.

Which choghadiya is the most auspicious?

Amrit is held the most auspicious, followed by Shubh and Labh. Chal is neutral and generally suited to travel. Udveg, Kaal and Rog are the ones ordinarily avoided for auspicious work.

Why does the choghadiya for Gangtok differ from another city?

The slots divide the actual period between sunrise and sunset, and those times depend on location. Gangtok has its own sunrise, so it has its own table.

Does the day change at midnight?

No. The weekday used for choghadiya is counted from sunrise, so a weekday runs from that sunrise to the next one.

‹ Choghadiya

Choghadiya for Gangtok

Gangtok, Sikkim — day and night choghadiya computed from sunrise and sunset, with Rahu Kaal and the other periods.

The table runs against your own clock; the period running now is shown above.

Choghadiya table for Gangtok

Sample — computed for 8 September 2026. Sunrise 05:17, sunset 17:48.

Day choghadiya

Choghadiya	Time	Quality
Amrit	05:17 – 06:51	Good
Kaal	06:51 – 08:25	Avoid
Shubh	08:25 – 09:59	Good
Rog	09:59 – 11:33	Avoid
Udveg	11:33 – 13:06	Avoid
Chal	13:06 – 14:40	Neutral
Labh	14:40 – 16:14	Good
Amrit	16:14 – 17:48	Good

Night choghadiya

Choghadiya	Time	Quality
Chal	17:48 – 19:14	Neutral
Labh	19:14 – 20:40	Good
Amrit	20:40 – 22:07	Good
Kaal	22:07 – 23:33	Avoid
Shubh	23:33 – 00:59	Good
Rog	00:59 – 02:25	Avoid
Udveg	02:25 – 03:51	Avoid
Chal	03:51 – 05:18	Neutral

Other periods

Rahu Kaal06:51 – 08:25
Kaal Vela09:59 – 11:33
Vaar Vela13:06 – 14:40
Kaal Ratri20:40 – 22:07

The eight choghadiya and their meanings

Udveg: A restless period. New work is usually deferred, though it is held acceptable for government matters.
Chal: The moving period — suited to travel, movement and anything already in motion.
Labh: The period of gain — favoured for trade, new ventures, beginning study, buying and selling.
Amrit: The most auspicious period — any auspicious undertaking may be begun in it.
Kaal: Inauspicious. Auspicious work is avoided, though some traditions allow matters of accumulation.
Shubh: Auspicious — particularly suited to marriage, ceremonies and rites.
Rog: Associated with illness and avoided for auspicious work; some traditions use it for matters of contest.

What choghadiya is

Choghadiya is a way of dividing the day into eight parts and the night into eight more, each part carrying a name and a traditional quality. It is used across western and northern India to pick a workable time for ordinary undertakings — setting out on a journey, opening a shop, beginning a course of study.

The word is generally read as chau (four) with ghadi, an old unit of about twenty-four minutes: four ghadis, roughly ninety-six minutes, is the length of one slot on an equinox day. On any other day it is longer or shorter, because the slots divide actual daylight rather than clock hours.

How the timings are worked out

The day half runs from sunrise to sunset and is divided into eight equal slots; the night half runs from sunset to the next sunrise and is divided the same way. Because daylight and darkness are rarely equal, a day slot and a night slot on the same date are usually different lengths.

Which name a slot carries depends on the weekday, and the weekday is counted from sunrise rather than from midnight. A Tuesday choghadiya therefore begins at Tuesday sunrise and runs into what a clock would call Wednesday morning.

Why the times differ by city

Everything here follows from sunrise and sunset, and those depend on where you are. Sunrise at Ladnun and sunrise at Kolkata are close to an hour apart on the same date, so their choghadiya tables differ by roughly the same amount. A single table cannot serve the whole country, which is why this page is published per city.

Times are shown in the local zone of the city you pick, computed from its latitude and longitude.

Choghadiya and Rahu Kaal

Rahu Kaal is a separate reckoning — one fixed eighth of the daylight period, determined by the weekday — and it is usually consulted alongside choghadiya rather than instead of it. It can overlap a slot that choghadiya calls favourable, and where the two disagree, common practice is to avoid the time.

Traditions differ on the finer points, and regional almanacs are not always in agreement. Where a family or community follows a particular reckoning, that reckoning is the one to keep.

Common questions

How many choghadiya are there in a day in Gangtok?: Eight in the day half, from sunrise to sunset, and eight more in the night half, from sunset to the following sunrise — sixteen in all.
Which choghadiya is the most auspicious?: Amrit is held the most auspicious, followed by Shubh and Labh. Chal is neutral and generally suited to travel. Udveg, Kaal and Rog are the ones ordinarily avoided for auspicious work.
Why does the choghadiya for Gangtok differ from another city?: The slots divide the actual period between sunrise and sunset, and those times depend on location. Gangtok has its own sunrise, so it has its own table.
Does the day change at midnight?: No. The weekday used for choghadiya is counted from sunrise, so a weekday runs from that sunrise to the next one.