Glossary · concept

Rahu Kaal

Also written Rahu Kalam · Rahukaal

Rahu Kaal (literally "the time of Rahu", the shadowy lunar north node) is a window of roughly an hour and a half each day that tradition sets aside as inauspicious for beginnings — signing, launching, setting out on a journey.

It is found by geometry, not omen. The stretch of daylight from sunrise to sunset is divided into eight equal parts, and one of those parts is Rahu’s — which part depends only on the weekday. So Rahu Kaal moves with your sunrise and your location, and is different on a Monday than on a Saturday.

A few things worth keeping in proportion: it applies to fresh starts, not to ongoing or routine work; it is a quality of the hour, not a prohibition; and many people simply prefer to begin important things outside it when the choice is theirs. It sits alongside two other daily "shadow" windows, Yamaganda and Gulika, and is balanced by the auspicious Abhijit Muhurta around midday.

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