Rahukalam

Normally we do have the tradition of starting things on auspicious hours or at least not commencing them on the so called inauspicious period such as Rahu kalam.
There is a standard Rahukalam Timetable given in all almanacs.This timetable has been given under the assumption that the sun rises at 6A.M. & sets at 6P.M.
Based on this people who believe in Rahu Kaalam start the Pooja etc just 5mts before the commencement of Rahukalam,continue & finish off just after Rahukalam ends.
But actually Raahukalm for each day is calculated thus. The daytime ,that is the intervel between Sunrise & Sunset is divided into 8 equal parts called octants.The first octant is left off.The second octant to the eighth octants are being assigned to the days in the order Monday,,Saturday,Friday,Wednesday,Thursday,Tuesday and Sunday.The Rahukalam on Sunday ends with Sunset.
In summer, daytime is longer & Rahukala period also will be more than 90 mts & during winter, day time is short & the Rahu kalam also will be shorter.

The following table clearly indicates the Rahukalam period for 4 cities with different sunrise & sunset timings.
CITY:1 CITY:2 CITY:3 CITY:4
. ........ ............. .......... ..........
Rise/set Rise/Set Rise/Set Rise/Set
A.M/p/M A.M./P.M A.M./P.M A.M./P.M
6.00/6.00 7.00/7.00 5.58/8.14 7.30/5.30

1/8=90mts 1/8=90mts 1/8=107mts 1/8=75mts
Rahukalam
Su;4.30-6.00p.m. 5.30-7.00p.m 6.27-8.14p.m 4.15-5.30

M: 7.30-9.00a.m. 8.30-10.00a.m. 7.45-9.32a.m. 8.45 -10a.m.

Tu:3.00-4.30p.m. 4.00-5.30p.m. 4.40-6.27p.m 3.00-4.15p.m.

W:12noon-1.30p.m. 1.00-2.30p.m. 1.06-2.53p.m. 12.30-1.45p.m.

Th:1.30-3.00p.m. 2.30-4.00p.m. 2.53-4.40p.m 1.45-3.00 p.m.

F:10.30-12noon 11.30-1.00p.m. 11.19-1.06p.m. 11.15 -12.30p.m

Sa:9.00-10.30a.m. 10.00-11.30a.m 9.32-11.19a.m. 10.00-11.15a.m.

Those who are meticulous of staggering any work just for Rahukalam sake, may take into account the above facts also. Sunise & sunset timings are given in dailies.For people living in chennai,timings may not vary much, But in places like Delhi, Bangalore where winter day timings are short,the Rahukalam will definitely vary.

In Singapore there are many Tamils who have special belief in Rahukalam.They have a special confusion.By standard timings ,singapore timings are 2.30 hrs in advance.When it is 5A. M. in madras it is 7.30 A. M. in Singapore.But as per longitude ,Singapore should have a time difference of one hour and 30 mts only.On monday at 7.30, a singapore Tamil man ,if he is analytical and religious, thinks it is 6.30 only and Rahukalam has not yet started.Yet in their deep mind, rahukalam stands deep rooted They start observing Rahukalam till 10 A. m.for 2hrs 30 mts because of this confusion.That is they observe rahukalam for two and half hrs daily.I was surprised to see such people in a scientifically advanced country like Singapore.
We need not remember any verse either in tamil or English to remember the rahukala timings.Now a days rahukala on day to day basis is available in internet & cell phones.
In South India,mainly Rahukalam is taken care of. But in Western India, specially in Gujarat,business people are very particular in avoiding not only Rahukalam but also many other inauspicious timings specific to their business in accordance with their calendar.

Even people following the tradition raise the following questions.

1.Whether the inauspiciousness is being caused by the planetary movements?
2. While Rahu is considered to be a node,& not a planet,how can it influence the living beings?
3.Whether there is any scientific proof to the fact that Rahukalam may prove harmful?
4. While the classification into thithis Prathama, Dvithiya etc depends on lunar movement,
the significance of grouping into days,Sunday , Monday etc & the specific influence of Rahu on specific hours has not been explained in many books.It is simply being followed as a tradition not necessarily out of faith but out of fear of avoiding the evil.
5.All are aware that only in preplanned events auspicious hrs can be adhered to & not during exigencies.
6.. 4 factors contribute to the success of any endeavour.Yatnam,(Effort),Prayatnam (severe & sincere efforts),Kaalam (period of doing ) & Devaanugraham( Divine Grace).It may not mean that only if the efforts are made during auspicious period, it will yield good results. Really it implies that when sincere efforts are undertaken with a lofty ideal in mind,auspicious kaalam starts instantly which leads to Divine Grace.( thadhaiva lagnam sudhinam thadhaiva)

My patti born in 1850 never believed in Rahukalam and neither my parents( 1889-1986)
While there is no harm in following the tradition,younger generation would prefer to be scientifically convinced.

There seems to be a scientific explanation of Rahukalam.
Because of the angle of the sun rays falling on the earth, the UV rays have huge impact on the people living in certain time of the day and parts of the earth.
According to Hindu astrology, a day can be divided into 8.
If we divide the day into 8 parts of 1.5 hours each, this will be the order in which the coloured rays which will have maximum impact on earth.

“RAHU KALAM "- It’s a time of the day when the intensity of the ultraviolet rays is severe when it falls in earth . And since it is not visible, it is considered as inauspicious.
It is why perhaps they omit the first octant and start the rahukalam coverage only from 7.30 A. M only.
mythology about Gulika
------------------------------

Gulika or Mandi is the son of Saturn. In Astrology it is an upa-graha. As per mythology, Ravana with the help of his mantric siddhis took control over all the planets. He commanded them to take their best positions at the time his wife was giving birth to Indrajit. Due to helplessness, all the planets agreed. Only Saturn was a bit reluctant and vowed to teach Ravana a lesson. Saturn was commanded to take position of the 11th house or house of gains which is the best position for Saturn to be. But when Indrajit was about to be born, Saturn placed his leg in the 12th house which is the house of loss and worst position for him to be. This enraged Ravana and he hit the leg of Saturn with his sword. A small piece of his shadowy leg fell into the first house which was occupied by the Sun. That was the birth of Gulika. This combination of Sun and Gulika in the first house and Saturn in the 12 house was astrologically the reason for the downfall of Indrajit who had even defeated Indra in battles.


Rahu kaalam and Yama kandam are to be avoided for starting auspicious / important activities, as they are considered the period when obstructing forces are in play. But routine and inauspicious karma's (like pithru karma, final rites of a deceased etc) can be performed in this one and half hour period.

As for Gulikai, it is not taboo for auspicious activities, but for inauspicious ones only. The karma done in this period would recur - so more auspicious things would come. If pithru karma is done by mistake, it would have to be repeated after the lapse of the Gulikai once again.

It is strange that we talk more about rahukalm( the inauspicious ) while conducting auspicious things, and more about 'gulikan' during inauspicious occasions.That is to say we give more importance to 'don'ts' than 'do's.
Thirugnana sambandar has compsed a set of verses called'kolaru pathikam'-the mitigation of evil effects of planets.The first popular verse talks about all planets.


வேயுறு தோளி பங்கன் விடமுண்ட கண்டன்
மிகநல்ல வீணை தடவி
மாசறு திங்கள் கங்கை முடிமேல் அணிந்து என்
உளமே புகுந்த அதனால்
ஞாயிறு திங்கள் செவ்வாய் புதன் வியாழன் வெள்ளி
சனிபாம் பிரண்டும் உடனே
ஆசறு நல்ல நல்ல அவைநல்ல நல்ல
அடியாரவர்க்கு மிகவே .
In this connection Arunagiri nathar's kandar alankaram -38th verse is
worth remembering.


நாளென் செயும்வினை தானென் செயுமெனை நாடிவந்த
கோளென் செயுங்கொடுங் கூற்றென் செயுங்கும ரேசரிரு
தாளுஞ் சிலம்புஞ் சதங்கையுந் தண்டையுஞ் சண்முகமுந்
தோளுங் கடம்பு மெனக்கு முன்னே வந்து தோன்றிடினே.

( When lord Muruga is there, no day, no time, no planet, and no karma and no kaala can do harm to us)
Let us not give much importance to rahu kalam etc and proceed with our concentrated efforts with full commitment and concentration.Divine grace will automatically follow.

Jayasala 42

 

Dear Viji,Thank you for your instantaneous feed back.if we have planned events, we can definitely go about seeing precious time.But when there is emergency, we simply rush and even a single minute will be precious.We don't do anything purposely in Rahukalam just to test whether it is harmful.But I sincerely feel that there cannot be any harm associated with it because rahu is not a planet and it is simply a node.
In those days for marriages all arrangements have to be done at home.The first thing to do for marriage was to prepare urundai vadam or kuzhambu vadam out of thattai payiru( Double eyed beans).In an auspicious hour, ( without rahukalam) they will soak the seeds.For the continuous procedure,they won't see rahukalam.
Many exams are written during rahukalam or we have to start during rahukalam.
For cataract surgery doctor herself fixed up a time ( without rahukalam).But the previous patient developed heart attack in the operation table and the patient was rushed to nearby cardiac hospital, and my husband's eye transplantation was done exactly in rahukalam.'
Thank you Viji for your response.
Jayasala 42

 

Dear Akanksha,
Looking for shubha muhurtham for an important function like 'wedding' is entirely different from having a craze for rahukal avoidance.It is not that we should purposely do a thing only during rahukalam and verify the harm or other wise of Rahukal influence.When we have to collect a number of documents for housing loan, buying or selling properties, college admissions, continuous marriage arrangements or child adoption process we can't be looking at the almanac each day.Once we start it has to proceed .
What I say is once a belief becomes deep rooted, we have a tendency to see rahukalam even for going to the taluk office to meet the tahsildar or his clerk.Even normal postponement or delay in Govt procedure may create an obsession in us- whether the impediment is on account of time or we may develop a tendency to procrastinate things.But for C section which is planned on auspicious hours, many normal deliveries take place during rahukalam.
Natural forces like sun or the air function 24x7.I used to imagine ,if Sun God wants to take rest during rahukalam for 90 mts, what will happen to the world? One may argue that planet will not affect other planet and will have an impact on human beings alone.
We have prayers, shlokas that have to be practised daily so that any of our duties undertaken with the correct objective in mind ,even if undertaken during inauspicious hrs may not end in failure.There may be natural delays in may cases due to so many other factors not attributable to Rahukalam.
Once we develop acceptance and have patience,perseverance and commitment-rahukalam will become an insignificant matter to take notice.

jayasala 42

 

Thank you Balaji.Christians and Muslims born and brought up in Tamilnadu have faith, even more faith than Hindus.All my Christian and Muslim friends adhere to rahukalam.Leave alone the religion,as you say, the harm done by fear is worse than the influence of rahukalam itself.There is no connection between education and belief in Rahukalam.Even people who do research in astronomy observe Rahukalam etc in personal life,

Jayasala 42