Tithi (Lunar Day)

TITH-ee

sanskrit: तिथि (Tithi)

Definition

A tithi is the Vedic lunar day, one of the five limbs of the panchanga (the Hindu almanac). It is measured by the gap between the Sun and the Moon: one tithi is the time the Moon takes to pull about twelve degrees further from the Sun. A lunar month holds thirty of them, split into two fortnights, called pakshas, of fifteen each — the waxing Shukla (bright) paksha from new Moon to full Moon, and the waning Krishna (dark) paksha from full Moon back to new Moon. The full Moon is Purnima, the new Moon Amavasya.

In Tradition

Across the Jyotish literature the tithi is the Moon-relative limb of the panchanga: it is fixed by the widening Sun-Moon gap, not by the Moon alone, so the thirty tithis of the lunar month sit alongside the twelve thirty-degree rashis (signs). Many astrologers read births and undertakings in the bright waxing half as tending toward benefic (favorable) results, and those in the dark waning half toward malefic (difficult) ones — the Moon being held weakest near the new Moon and strongest near the full Moon.

In Practice

An astrologer reads your birth tithi for character, and where its ruling planet sits for love, marriage and children, and leans on tithis heavily in muhurta — choosing an auspicious moment to begin something. Some are avoided. The Rikta or empty tithis (the 4th, 9th and 14th of a fortnight) are passed over for most beginnings, and Phaladeepika lists six Chidra (defective) tithis as generally unfit for auspicious work. Birth on Amavasya, the new Moon, is widely judged inauspicious — said to draw poverty or hardship — with remedies built on worship of the Sun and Moon. One derived tithi, the Santana, is computed for a special question: five times the Moon's longitude minus five times the Sun's, it is read to judge whether children will come and whether remedies are needed.

Historical Origin

The tithi is rooted in the classical Sanskrit texts. The Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra treats birth on Amavasya, the Phaladeepika of Mantreswara names the Chidra tithis, and the Prasna Marga gives the Santana tithi. The concept is then expounded across the modern Jyotish literature by authors including Levacy, Charak, Sutton, Larsen, Joshi, Murthy, deFouw and Svoboda, Cole, Bhagat, Rath and Narasimha Rao.

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading