ಕರಣ: ಅರ್ಧ ತಿಥಿ | Karana: the half tithi

A karana is half a tithi: the time the moon takes to gain six degrees on the sun. There are therefore sixty karanas in a lunar month, two to each tithi.

They are drawn from a set of eleven names, and the arrangement is unusual. Seven of the eleven are chara, movable, and rotate continuously through the month. Four are sthira, fixed, and occur exactly once each.

The seven movable karanas are Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Garaja, Vanija and Vishti. Starting from the second half of the first tithi of the waxing fortnight, they repeat eight times in succession, filling fifty-six of the sixty slots.

The four fixed karanas occupy the remaining four, which sit around the new moon: Shakuni in the second half of the fourteenth tithi of the waning fortnight, Chatushpada in the first half of Amavasya, Naga in its second half, and Kimstughna in the first half of the first tithi of the waxing fortnight.

The eleven karanas

Seven movable (chara), then four fixed (sthira):

1. Bava The first of the seven moving karanas, ruled by Indra. Good for steady, ordinary and auspicious work.
2. Balava The second moving karana, ruled by Brahma. Good for rites, learning and beginnings.
3. Kaulava The third moving karana, ruled by Mitra. Good for friendship, meetings and weddings.
4. Taitila The fourth moving karana, ruled by Aryaman. Good for building and for honours.
5. Garaja The fifth moving karana, ruled by Bhumi. Good for farming, land and steady work.
6. Vanija The sixth moving karana, ruled by Lakshmi. Good for trade and money matters.
7. Vishti The seventh moving karana, ruled by Yama, also called Bhadra. Auspicious work is not begun in it.
8. Shakuni The first of the four fixed karanas, ruled by Kali. Used for medicine and remedies, not for beginnings.
9. Chatushpada A fixed karana, ruled by Rudra. Used for rites for the ancestors and for work with cattle.
10. Naga A fixed karana, ruled by the serpents. Used for harsh or hidden work, not for beginnings.
11. Kimstughna The fixed karana that opens the month, ruled by Vayu. Good for auspicious work and rites.

Vishti, or Bhadra

One karana gets far more attention than the rest. Vishti, almost always called Bhadra, is considered strongly inauspicious for beginnings, and many almanacs print its start and end times prominently.

Because Vishti is the seventh of a repeating set of seven, it comes round every three and a half tithis, which works out to roughly twice a week for about eleven hours at a time. Weddings, house entry, journeys and the start of new work are avoided during it. Some traditions hold that Bhadra is only to be avoided when it falls in a particular part of the day, and that Bhadra occurring at night during the waxing fortnight, or in the day during the waning, may be disregarded.

The remaining karanas carry milder characters. Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila and Garaja are generally favourable. Vanija is considered good for trade, which its name reflects. Among the fixed four, Kimstughna is favourable and the other three are not.

In practice

The karana is the least consulted of the five limbs in daily life. Most people who check a panchanga are looking for the tithi and the nakshatra. The karana matters chiefly to those selecting a muhurta, and there it is really only Vishti that changes a decision.