Panchang for Saturday, 17 July 2027

Tithi	Chaturdashi
Paksha	Shukla
Nakshatra	Mula, pada 4
Yoga	Indra
Karana	Vanija
Vara	Shanivara
Sunrise (Ujjain, IST)	05:50
Sunset (Ujjain, IST)	19:15

Today's tithi is Chaturdashi, in the Shukla paksha, the waxing half of the lunar month. The Moon moves through Mula nakshatra, pada 4. The vara is Shanivara, and the panchang's remaining limbs are Indra yoga and Vanija karana.

Chaturdashi in Shukla paksha

Shukla Chaturdashi is the fourteenth tithi of the bright fortnight, spanning 156 to 168 degrees of separation, the last tithi before Purnima and one the tradition counts among the Rikta group.

To the eye the Moon is already full. It rises close to sunset, sets close to sunrise, and only careful looking will show the sliver still missing along one edge. This is often the night people mistake for the full Moon, and the tithi is a useful correction to the eye.

Rikta means empty, and the fourth, ninth and fourteenth share that grouping, kept in the classical handbooks for clearing rather than for beginnings. The traditional deity is Shiva. In the bright fortnight of Bhadrapada this tithi carries the observance of the endless one, which closes a ten day festival, so completion is written into its practice as much as emptiness is.

The most useful way to hold that is as the eve of something. An eve is genuinely not the thing itself, and treating it as preparation rather than as the event is a small piece of realism the tradition has been offering for a long time.