Chirala is a small place in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, of the Prakasam district. The entire area of 23.30 Km2 or 9.0 sq mi is situated at the cartographical coordinates of 15.8246°N 80.3521°E. This place is situated at a natural average elevation of 3 meters from the sea level, and as it is a coastal region of the Bay of Bengal, this forms are structure of the soil of that place.
The detailed analysis of the religious demographics of Chilara shows that there are 83,609 of people, 93.55% who follow the Hindu religion and among them 41,125 are male and 42,484 are female. The Muslim population there, is 7,302 which is 8.17% of the total population. Christianity is the third largest religion in the Chirala region, which is followed by 1,668 , 1.87% of people and 793 are male and 875 are female among them. According to the census of 2011, the number of Sikhs, Buddhists, and Jain are 13, 4,and 13 in number, which can hardly be counted in percentage.
About the Panchang
The Panchang (Panjika) is the Hindu almanac. It is used to choose auspicious times (shubh muhurat) for important events
— marriage, naming a baby, starting a business or entering a new home — and to identify inauspicious periods
that are best avoided. Festivals and pujas are also scheduled by it: Lakshmi Puja falls on Purnima tithi, for example,
and Durga Puja on Saptami.
The name means “five limbs”: Tithi, Vara (weekday), Nakshatra,
Yoga and Karana. This page calculates them for the chosen city and date, together with
sunrise, sunset and the Moon's phase. Timings depend on the location, so they differ from city to city.
Tithi and Paksha
A tithi is the time it takes for the Moon to move 12° ahead of the Sun, so there are 30 tithis in a lunar month:
Pratipada, Dwitiya, Tritiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dashami, Ekadashi, Dwadashi,
Trayodashi, Chaturdashi and Purnima in the bright half (Shukla Paksha), and the same fifteen ending in Amavasya in the
dark half (Krishna Paksha).
Karana and Yoga
Each tithi has two karanas: the movable Bava, Balava, Kaulava, Taitila, Gara, Vanija and Vishti (Bhadra), and the fixed
Shakuni, Chatushpada, Naga and Kimstughna. There are 27 yogas, found by adding the longitudes of the Sun and Moon and
dividing by 13°20′: Vishkambha, Priti, Ayushman, Saubhagya, Shobhana, Atiganda, Sukarma, Dhriti, Shoola,
Ganda, Vriddhi, Dhruva, Vyaghata, Harshana, Vajra, Siddhi, Vyatipata, Variyana, Parigha, Shiva, Siddha, Sadhya, Shubha,
Shukla, Brahma, Indra and Vaidhriti.
Before starting a journey or anything important, prefer the auspicious times above and avoid Rahu Kaal,
Yamaganda, Gulika Kaal, Dur Muhurta and Mrityu periods.