Panchang for Tuesday, 18 August 2026

Tithi	Shashthi
Paksha	Shukla
Nakshatra	Swati, pada 1
Yoga	Shukla
Karana	Taitila
Vara	Mangalavara
Sunrise (Ujjain, IST)	06:04
Sunset (Ujjain, IST)	18:57

Today's tithi is Shashthi, in the Shukla paksha, the waxing half of the lunar month. The Moon moves through Swati nakshatra, pada 1. The vara is Mangalavara, and the panchang's remaining limbs are Shukla yoga and Taitila karana.

Shashthi in Shukla paksha

Shukla Shashthi is the sixth tithi of the bright fortnight, the stretch from 60 to 72 degrees of separation, and its traditional deity is Kartikeya, the young commander, which sets its tone of directed energy.

Shashthi is a Nanda tithi, in the group with the first and the eleventh, and it arrives just before the Moon reaches its first quarter. In the sky that means a Moon already high in the south west at sunset, staying up until close to midnight, plainly more lit than not.

The classical associations are with strength applied in one direction: campaigns, competitions, the point in a project where the plan stops being a plan. Skanda Shashthi is kept on this tithi in several traditions, and the Kartika observance that involves standing in water at sunrise and sunset also falls here.

The practical version of that is simple enough. This is the traditional slot for the part of a task that needs a decision about direction, not more preparation. What direction you choose is not the sky's business, and the tradition does not claim otherwise.