Muhūrta has two senses. The first is a unit of time: a fifteenth of the daylight or of the night, equal to two nāḍīs (Nārada 9.4). It is about 48 minutes when day and night are equal, so thirty muhūrtas run from one sunrise to the next. Each muhūrta has a name and a deity (Nārada 9.1–3). The chapter’s table gives all thirty, and the day page lists the day’s muhūrtas with their times. The second sense is a moment chosen for an undertaking. This sense is the subject of the Muhūrta Cintāmaṇi, which gives the means of knowing the right time for the whole round of rites (MC 1.2) by weighing the tithi, the weekday, the nakṣatra, the yoga, the karaṇa and the lagna for each kind of work.

Also written muhurtham · muhurtha · muhurat · मुहूर्त

The thirty muhūrtas, with their deities → · Today’s muhūrtas on the day page →