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Glossary

Amavasya defined: the thirtieth tithi, when the Moon is with the Sun, how this app recognises it, and the daily note it triggers as the dark Moon approaches.

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In short

Amavasya is the new-Moon day, the thirtieth and last tithi of the lunar month, when the Moon sits with the Sun and shows no light. This app reaches it as tithi 30, adds a daily note from tithi 27 of the dark half that the time suits closure, and does not put Amavasya itself on its muhurat avoid list.

What the term means

Amavasya is the new Moon: the last of the thirty tithis, closing the Krishna Paksha. The Moon has caught up with the Sun, rises and sets with it, and shows no lit face from Earth. The tithi after it opens the bright half of the next month.

Where the term comes from

BPHS Ch. 85 Sl. 1-4 gloss Amavasya as the "last day of the Krishna Paksha" and list a birth on it among the births the chapter calls inauspicious; Ch. 86 is given over to such births. The texts treat this as a question about birth, not about choosing a time. BPHS Ch. 89 Sl. 1-7, on muhurta, ask for a day free of Rikta-Bhadra Dosha and do not name Amavasya at all.

How this app uses it

  • The engine counts tithis in 12-degree steps of the Moon's distance from the Sun; tithi 30 is Amavasya, and the phase label around it is New Moon.
  • The daily reading watches the approach: in the Krishna Paksha at tithi 27 or later it adds a note that the near-dark Moon suits finishing rather than launching, giving the tithi and illumination as its reason. See daily guidance.
  • The muhurat avoid list holds tithis 4, 8, 9, 14, 19, 23, 24 and 29 but not 30. The code records why: no text the app holds names Amavasya as a tithi to avoid for an undertaking, so it is not added without a source.

Pages that use this term

Related terms

Purnima, Paksha, Shukla Paksha and Panchang.

Now on yourself

Moon Phase and Tithi

The tithi, the paksha and how much of the Moon was lit on your birth date.

A birth time is optional. Without one this is read at local noon on your birth date - and the Moon moves about 13 degrees in a day, so add the time if you know it.

No place is asked for on this page, so the time is read as Indian Standard Time (IST). Born outside India? Run it on its own page, where you can add the place.

This date is sent only to compute the answer. Nothing is stored, no account is created, and no email is asked for.

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