Accurate Rahukaalam Calculator for your Location

If you are a Hindu, you would have heard of Rahukaalam. According to Hindus, Rahukaalam is very inauspicious to undertake any new venture.

As a general rule, the Rahukaalam [or Rahukalam or Ragukalam or Rahu Kaalam] is observed for 90 minutes everyday at any place, assuming sunrise at 6am and sunset at 6pm.
Monday (7:30 – 9:00), Tuesday (15:00 – 16:30), Wednesday (12:00 – 13:30), Thursday (13:30 – 15:00), Friday (10:30 – 12:00), Saturday (9:00 – 10:30), Sunday (16:30 – 18:00).

As per the vedic rules, rahukaalam for each day is calculated using an equation. Divide the time period between sunrise and sunset into eight equal parts, called time octants. Arrange the days of the week in the order M,Sa,F,W,Th,Tu,Su (Monday, Saturday, Friday, Wednesday, Thursday, Tuesday, Sunday) and assign the second through the eighth time octants to these days in this order. These time octants then are the Raahukaalam on each of the days of the week.

[advt]

The sunrise and sunset local time at a place depends on the latitude and longitude at the location, and hence Rahukaalam also varies accordingly. I thought of having an easy way of calculating the accurate Rahukaalam and came up with this
Rahukaalam Calculator (Microsoft Excel). Hope this helps those who believe in it (or forced to follow this!).

If you don’t know the latitude and longitude at your location, try this easy Google map based Latitude and Longitude Finder.

This Excel workbook is originally from Department of Ecology, Washington State, USA. The Excel contains VBA functions for sunrise/sunset and solar position: dawn, sunrise, solar noon, sunset, dusk, solar azimuth, solar elevation. The calculation of local times of sunrise, solar noon, sunset, dawn, and dusk based on the calculation procedure by NOAA.

I modified the Excel to calculate the accurate Rahukaalam at your local latitude and longitude.

Download Rahukaalam Calculator (Microsoft Excel). You need to enable Macros for this Excel VBA application.

Astronomically, Rahu and Ketu denotes the two points of intersection of the paths of the Sun and the Moon as they move on the celestial sphere. Rahu and Ketu are respectively called the north and the south lunar nodes. more…

Do you believe in and observe Rahukaalam? Any good or bad experiences you had with it?