Puranic Encyclopaedia: A Comprehensive Dictionary with Special Reference to the Epic and Puranic Literature c7.1736

c7.1736

Fifteen nimiṣas make one Kāṣṭhā, thirty Kāṣṭhās one Kalā, thirty Kalās one muhūrta and thirty muhūrtas one day and night. Day is long or short according to the length or shortness of parts of the day, like morning, noon and evening. Despite the above variation evening or dusk time is always (2 nāzhikās) the same. The three muhūrtas from the sun’s ardhodaya (when half of the sun has arisen) is called Prātaḥkāla, (morning) and it is 1/5th of day time. The three muhūrtas following are known as saṁgava. Madhyāhna (noon) is the three muhūrtas after saṁgava. The time after madhyāhna is aparāhna (afternoon). Aparāhna lasts for three muhūrtas. The time after this is dusk. Thus, a day-time of fifteen muhūrtas is divided into five parts of three muhūrtas each. On Viṣuvat day the day will have full fifteen muhūrtas. Then during Uttarāyaṇa and Dakṣiṇāyana the day will be longer or shorter. During Uttarāyaṇa the day will be longer than night, and during Dakṣiṇāyana vice versa. Viṣuvat occurs when the sun enters the Tulā (Libra) and Meṣa (Aries) houses. Dakṣiṇāyana is when the sun enters Cancer, and Uttarāyaṇa when it enters Capricorn.