Panchak 2026: every date, with start and end time

Panchak — 'the five' — is the stretch in which the Moon moves through the last five nakshatras: the second half of Dhanishta, Shatabhisha, Purva Bhadrapada, Uttara Bhadrapada and Revati. In degrees of the sidereal zodiac that is 300° to 360°, the signs Kumbha and Meena, and the Moon takes about four and a half days to cross it. Muhurat texts list what is traditionally put off during it: gathering wood or grass, laying a roof, making a bed, and travel to the south; a death in Panchak is followed by a specific rite. Other work goes on as usual.

Almanacs name a Panchak by the weekday it begins on: Rog Panchak (Sunday), Raj Panchak (Monday), Agni Panchak (Tuesday), Chor Panchak (Friday) and Mrityu Panchak (Saturday). One beginning on a Wednesday or Thursday has no name of its own. The naming is convention; the dates above are astronomy.