/v1/panchang/choghadiya

Day + night Choghadiya schedule.

What this tells you

Choghadiya means "four ghadis". The time from sunrise to sunset is cut into 8 equal slots, and the time from sunset to the next sunrise into 8 more, so each slot is about 4 ghatikas (about 96 minutes near the equinox) and its length changes with the season. Each slot has one of seven names (Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Chal, Udveg, Rog, Kaal) and is good, neutral or bad. The order depends on the weekday. Choghadiya is the everyday muhurta system, used for scheduling meetings, travel and errands.

Request

All requests require an Authorization header with your dv_live_* API key.

example request

curl "https://api.lifeastroapi.com/v1/panchang/choghadiya?date=2027-01-15&tz=Asia%2FKolkata&lat=28.6139&lon=77.209" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Query parameters

Checked against the API: a parameter is marked required when the request fails without it.

Name	Required	Example	Description
`date`	yes	`2027-01-15`	Date (YYYY-MM-DD).
`tz`	yes	`Asia/Kolkata`	Timezone: IANA name (Asia/Kolkata) or UTC offset (+05:30).
`lat`	yes	`28.6139`	Latitude in decimal degrees.
`lon`	yes	`77.209`	Longitude in decimal degrees.

Response (200 OK)

The real response to the example request above, generated from the API itself. Long arrays are trimmed to their first two items. Field names are stable across versions.

200 response

{
  "date": "2027-01-15",
  "location": {
    "lat": 28.6139,
    "lon": 77.209,
    "alt": 0
  },
  "tz": "Asia/Kolkata",
  "abhijit_muhurt": {
    "available": true,
    "start_local": "2027-01-15 12:09:28",
    "end_local": "2027-01-15 12:51:34",
    "start_jd": 2461420.777406,
    "end_jd": 2461420.806641
  },
  "slots": [
    {
      "index": 1,
      "type": "Chal",
      "is_day_ghadi": true,
      "window": {
        "start_jd": 2461420.572762,
        "end_jd": 2461420.627578,
        "start_local": "2027-01-15 07:14:47",
        "end_local": "2027-01-15 08:33:43"
      }
    },
    {
      "index": 2,
      "type": "Labh",
      "is_day_ghadi": true,
      "window": {
        "start_jd": 2461420.627578,
        "end_jd": 2461420.682393,
        "start_local": "2027-01-15 08:33:43",
        "end_local": "2027-01-15 09:52:39"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Field reference

Every field in the response, with its type, a real example, and what it means.

Field	Type	Meaning
date	string (YYYY-MM-DD)	The requested date. The slots run from this date's sunrise to the next sunrise. example: `"2027-01-15"`
location	object	Echo of lat, lon and alt (metres). example: `{ "lat": 28.6139, "lon": 77.209, "alt": 0 }`
tz	string	Echo of the tz you sent. All *_local times are in this zone. example: `"Asia/Kolkata"`
abhijit_muhurt	object	Abhijit Muhurta of the same day, included for convenience. example: `{ "available": true, "start_local": "2027-01-15 12:09:28", … }` Jyotish: Abhijit is the 8th of the 15 equal daytime muhurtas, around local noon.
abhijit_muhurt.available	boolean	false on Wednesday, when there is no Abhijit Muhurta. The four time fields are then left out. example: `true`
abhijit_muhurt.start_local / end_local	string (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)	Start and end of Abhijit in local time (request tz). example: `"2027-01-15 12:09:28"`
abhijit_muhurt.start_jd / end_jd	number	Start and end of Abhijit as Julian Day in UT. example: `2461420.777406`
slots	array (16 items)	8 day slots (sunrise to sunset), then 8 night slots (sunset to next sunrise). example: `[…]`
slots[].index	integer (1–16)	1–8 are the day slots counted from sunrise; 9–16 are the night slots counted from sunset. example: `1`
slots[].type	string	Choghadiya name: Amrit, Shubh, Labh, Chal, Udveg, Rog or Kaal. The order depends on the weekday. Translated when you pass `locale`. example: `"Chal"` Jyotish: Amrit, Shubh and Labh are good; Chal is neutral; Udveg, Rog and Kaal are inauspicious.
slots[].is_day_ghadi	boolean	true for day slots (1–8), false for night slots (9–16). example: `true`
slots[].window.start_jd / end_jd	number	Start and end of the slot as Julian Day in UT. example: `2461420.572762`
slots[].window.start_local / end_local	string (YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS)	Start and end of the slot in local time (request tz). example: `"2027-01-15 07:14:47"`

Usage tips

How to use it

Classic Hindu calendar UI
Render two rows (day and night) of 8 cells each, coloured by quality. Mark the current slot by comparing the current time with `window.start_jd` / `window.end_jd`.
"Amrit" is the best
For critical tasks (starting a journey, signing papers), pick an Amrit slot over the other good ones.
Abhijit comes with it
Read `abhijit_muhurt.available` before the time fields. On Wednesday it is false and the times are not sent.

Errors

Every error follows the same envelope. Use the error.code field (not the message) for conditional logic in your integration.

401 Unauthorized

{
  "error": {
    "code": "unauthorized",
    "message": "missing or invalid API key",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

402 Payment Required

{
  "error": {
    "code": "trial_exhausted",
    "message": "your free trial credits are exhausted — pick a plan to continue",
    "top_up_url": "https://lifeastroapi.com/pricing",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

429 Too Many Requests

{
  "error": {
    "code": "rate_limited",
    "message": "rate limit exceeded; retry after 12 seconds",
    "request_id": "req_01hqy7k8c3e7m1n"
  }
}

Try it

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