Most Vedic apps show the same Rahu Kaal for all of India, calculated from a generic IST formula. But Rahu Kaal is 1/8th of the actual daytime from today's sunrise at your location. Patna (85.1°E) is 7.9 degrees east of Delhi, sunrise is 32 min earlier than Delhi and only 13 min later than Kolkata. CosmosPandit uses precision astronomy (Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms) to calculate the exact sunrise at Patna's coordinates (25.594100°N, 85.137600°E), giving you the correct Rahu Kaal every day.
Rahu Kaal is the roughly 90-minute window each day ruled by the shadow planet Rahu, traditionally avoided for starting anything new, travel, deals, purchases, or ceremonies. It is the eighth part of the daytime (sunrise to sunset), and which part it falls in is fixed by the weekday, so the clock time shifts daily and by city.
Patna, ancient Pataliputra and Bihar's capital, is home to the Mahavir Mandir (Bihar's most visited temple), the Har Mandir Takht Patna Sahib (one of the five Sikh Takhts), and the famed Chhath Puja, Bihar's most important festival, timed precisely to sunrise and sunset. Patna at 85.1°E has a sunrise 32 minutes earlier than Delhi, making it one of India's early-sunrise mainland cities.
During Rahu Kaal in Patna, it is wise to hold off on starting anything that carries real stakes or long-term consequence. Avoid launching a new business, signing contracts or financial agreements, and taking out loans during this window. Important journeys, property purchases, vehicle acquisitions, and wedding ceremonies are also best scheduled outside these hours. The inauspicious influence of Rahu makes fresh beginnings particularly vulnerable, so save those moments for a more favorable time of day.
Rahu Kaal is perfectly fine for work that is already in motion, so carry on with ongoing projects, meetings, or tasks without worry. It is actually a powerful time for prayer, mantra chanting, and spiritual practice, and reciting the Rahu beej mantra or offering blue flowers and mustard oil can turn this period into a genuine act of propitiation. Use the time for planning, research, reading, or studying, as these reflective activities flow well under Rahu's energy. Everyday routines and household chores are also completely unaffected, so go about your normal day with confidence.
India uses a single timezone (IST, UTC+5:30) across 30° of longitude. But sunrise follows the sun, not the clock, every 1° of longitude, 4 minutes difference. Kolkata’s sunrise is 80 minutes earlier than Mumbai’s on the same IST day, so Rahu Kaal falls at genuinely different times in each city.
This Rahu Kaal page is just the start. The CosmosPandit app gives every Indian the full Vedic astrology toolkit, in their own language, with timings precise for their city:
Yes. CosmosPandit's Panchang screen shows today's precise sunrise and sunset for Patna every day. For Chhath, the Sandhya Arghya (evening) and Usha Arghya (morning) times are the sunset and sunrise on those specific days, displayed accurately in the app.
No. Gaya (84.99°E) is 0.15 degrees west of Patna (85.14°E), sunrise is about 1 minute later in Gaya. For Bodh Gaya or Vishnupad temple rituals, use Gaya's coordinates in the CosmosPandit app.
Yes. CosmosPandit is fully available in Hindi, all timings, daily Rashifal, and Panchang in Hindi.
Astronomically precise Rahu Kaal timings for 25 major Indian cities.