How the Vaishnava Calendar Works
How tithi, pakṣa, lunar months, local sunrise, and pāraṇa windows shape the Vaiṣṇava calendar.
This practical guide supports personal sādhana. Initiated practitioners follow the instructions received from their spiritual authority.
Direct answer
The Vaiṣṇava calendar follows lunar days called tithis rather than simply assigning every festival to the same civil date worldwide. A tithi is an angular relationship between the sun and moon; its beginning and end can occur at any clock time.
Calendar rules then evaluate the tithi at local sunrise and apply tradition-specific criteria for fasts, appearance days, and breaking a fast. This is why the selected city is part of the calculation, not a cosmetic setting.
Practice step by step
- Confirm the city, time zone, and daylight-saving status before reading an event.
- Distinguish the waxing and waning fortnight when comparing similarly named tithis.
- For a fast, save the local observance date together with the following pāraṇa window.
- Use temple guidance when community scheduling or a complex calendar rule is involved.
What to avoid
- Do not assume midnight begins a tithi or that one date applies worldwide.
- Do not calculate health-related fasting decisions from an astronomy page alone.