Every day is split into 24 horas, twelve between sunrise and sunset and twelve between sunset and the next sunrise. Each one is ruled by a planet, and each planet has work it suits. This is your next seven days, from your own sunrise.
The Vedic day does not begin at midnight. It begins at sunrise, and it is divided twice: the daylight span into twelve equal horas, and the night into twelve more. Because daylight and darkness are rarely the same length, a daytime hora and a night hora are rarely the same length either. Near the summer solstice in northern India a day hora runs past seventy minutes while the night horas that follow it run under fifty. They match only around the equinox.
Each hora is ruled by one of the seven classical planets, running in Chaldean order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon. The first hora after sunrise belongs to the lord of the weekday, which is what ties the whole scheme together. Step twenty-four horas along a cycle of seven and you advance three places, which lands precisely on the next weekday’s lord. Sunday opening on the Sun is what forces Monday to open on the Moon. The names of the weekdays are a fossil of this arithmetic, in Sanskrit and in English alike.
What each hora suits comes from the planet’s karaka, its significator role. Mercury governs speech and commerce, so a Mercury hora is when you talk to people. Venus governs art and harmony, so a Venus hora is when you make things. Saturn governs endurance and solitude, so a Saturn hora is for the patient work nobody watches. This page states the basis under every hour rather than only colouring it, so you can check the reasoning instead of taking the colour on trust.
A hora is the Vedic planetary hour. The time from sunrise to sunset is divided into twelve equal parts, and sunset to the next sunrise into twelve more, giving twenty-four horas in a day. Each hora is ruled by one of the seven classical planets, and each planet's hora traditionally suits particular kinds of work.
No. A hora is one twelfth of the daylight span or one twelfth of the night, so its length changes with the season and your latitude. In a Delhi summer a daytime hora runs past seventy minutes while a night hora runs under fifty. The two are equal only near the equinox.
The lord of the weekday. Sunday opens on the Sun, Monday on the Moon, Tuesday on Mars, Wednesday on Mercury, Thursday on Jupiter, Friday on Venus and Saturday on Saturn. This is why the weekdays carry planet names in Sanskrit and in most European languages.
The Chaldean order: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, repeating. Starting from the weekday lord and stepping twenty-four places along this seven planet cycle advances exactly three positions, which lands on the next weekday's lord. That is the arithmetic reason Sunday is followed by Monday rather than by some other planet's day.
The Mercury hora. Mercury is the karaka, or significator, of speech, intellect and commerce, so its hora is traditionally used for negotiation, correspondence, accounts and study. The Jupiter hora suits conversations where you are seeking or giving advice.
The Venus hora. Venus is the karaka of art, beauty and harmony, so its hora is traditionally used for creative work, design, and anything judged on how it looks or feels.
The Sun hora for decisions you need to own, the Mars hora for work that has to be forced through, and the Saturn hora for patient, repetitive, solitary work. Saturn's hora is classically avoided for starting anything new, though continuing existing work is not restricted.
Rahu Kaal is one eighth of the daylight span, falling at a different position each weekday, and is traditionally avoided for beginning anything new. It cuts across the hora grid rather than replacing it, so a hora that is otherwise favourable can still overlap Rahu Kaal. Work already under way is not restricted.
No. Horas depend on your location's sunrise and sunset and on the weekday, not on your birth chart. Two people in the same city share the same hora grid. This page uses the location from your saved chart if you have one, purely to get your sunrise right.