| Tithi | Chaturdashi |
|---|---|
| Paksha | Krishna |
| Nakshatra | Magha, pada 3 |
| Yoga | Siddha |
| Karana | Shakuni |
| Vara | Guruvara |
| Sunrise (Ujjain, IST) | 06:11 |
| Sunset (Ujjain, IST) | 18:35 |
Today's tithi is Chaturdashi, in the Krishna paksha, the waning half of the lunar month. The Moon moves through Magha nakshatra, pada 3. The vara is Guruvara, and the panchang's remaining limbs are Siddha yoga and Shakuni karana.
Shakuni is one of the four fixed karanas, appearing exactly once in a lunar month in the second half of Krishna Chaturdashi, and its name means a bird.
The seven movable karanas repeat eight times each through a month, filling fifty six of the sixty half tithis. The remaining four are the fixed karanas, and they cluster at the darkest point of the cycle. Shakuni comes first of them, taking the second half of the fourteenth tithi of the dark fortnight, immediately before Amavasya.
The bird in the name is read in the classical lists as a messenger and a watcher, something that sees a situation from above before it settles. The associations that follow are with completion, with attention to what is already in motion, and with the study or care of things that need a practised hand rather than a fresh start.
Because it happens once a month, Shakuni is genuinely rare on a page in a way that Bava or Vishti never are. If you keep any monthly rhythm of tidying up before the new cycle begins, this half day and the three that follow it are where the tradition has always put it.