Palakkad city is located in the Palakkad district of the state of Kerala in India and is known as the Rice Bowl of Kerala. The city is said to be located at the gateway to Kerala with the Kalpathy River, a tributary of the River Bharathapuzha, flowing close by and the Malampuzha Dam lying quite nearby. The Palakkad Gap in the Western Ghats leads to Palakkad and hence this city is surrounded by the hills as well as the Arabian Sea which lies close by and influences the climate of the region. The Palakkad Fort in Palakkad was constructed during the Eighteenth Century and is the main centre for history here. The Hanuman Temple in the fort is a prominent religious site with the Visvanatha Swamy Temple in the city being the main one. Agriculture is the main source of economy for Palakkad with rice being the most cultivated item in this area.
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.