Planetary Hora Hours of the Day

The word hora is the root of the English word "hour", and in Vedic timekeeping it means exactly that: a planetary hour. Each hour of the day belongs to one of the seven planets, and choosing an hour whose planet suits the task is one of the simplest tools of Muhurtha (electional astrology). It needs nothing more than the weekday and the time of sunrise.

The order of the hora lords

The seven planets take the horas in a fixed order:

Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars - and then the Sun again.

The order is not random. Arranged from slowest to fastest, the planets are Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, and the hora order simply runs through that list in a circle.

The first hora belongs to the weekday lord

The Vedic day begins at sunrise, not at midnight. The first hora after sunrise is ruled by the lord of the weekday: the Sun on Sunday, the Moon on Monday, Mars on Tuesday, Mercury on Wednesday, Jupiter on Thursday, Venus on Friday and Saturn on Saturday.

Hora from sunrise	Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1st	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn
2nd	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter
3rd	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars
4th	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun
5th	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus
6th	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon	Mars	Mercury
7th	Mars	Mercury	Jupiter	Venus	Saturn	Sun	Moon

The 8th hora repeats the 1st, the 9th repeats the 2nd, and so on through all 24. So the weekday lord also rules the 8th, 15th and 22nd horas.

Why the weekdays are in the order they are

There are 24 horas in a day and 7 planets. 24 divided by 7 leaves 3, so the first hora of the next day falls three steps further along the order. Three steps after the Sun is the Moon; three after the Moon is Mars; then Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn. That is the order of the days of the week, and the hora system is where it comes from.

How to find the hora for any time

Simple method. Count one clock hour per hora from local sunrise.

Example: It is Thursday, sunrise was at 6:00 a.m., and you want the hora at 10:30 a.m. That is the 5th hour after sunrise. In the Thursday column, the 5th hora is Mercury.

Refined method. Day and night are rarely exactly 12 hours each. Many panchangs divide the time from sunrise to sunset into 12 equal day horas and the time from sunset to the next sunrise into 12 equal night horas. If sunrise is at 6:20 a.m. and sunset at 6:00 p.m., the day is 700 minutes long and each day hora lasts about 58 minutes.

Night horas. The order simply continues after sunset. The 13th hora, the first of the night, is five steps on from the weekday lord: Jupiter on Sunday night, Venus on Monday night, Saturn on Tuesday night, the Sun on Wednesday night, the Moon on Thursday night, Mars on Friday night and Mercury on Saturday night.

Remember that before sunrise it is still the previous Vedic day. At 4 a.m. on what the calendar calls Monday, you are still in Sunday's horas.

What each hora suits

Hora	Traditionally suited to
Sun	Meeting people in authority, government work, applications, taking charge
Moon	Travel, dealing with the public, food, home and family matters
Mars	Work that needs energy and courage, technical and mechanical tasks, property, sport
Mercury	Study, writing, accounts, trade, communication, signing routine papers
Jupiter	Almost any good beginning: learning, teaching, finance, ceremonies, seeking advice
Venus	Arts, clothes, jewellery, vehicles, celebrations, matters of love and friendship
Saturn	Steady, patient work: labour, repairs, land, cleaning, long-term organising

Jupiter's hora is the general favourite, and the horas of Venus, Mercury and the Moon are also widely used for beginnings. Mars and Saturn horas are usually not chosen for ceremonies or delicate talks, but they are the right hours for the work those planets rule. Nothing goes wrong simply because an activity happened in a particular hora; the hora is a way of choosing well when you have a choice.

Using hora with the rest of the panchang

Hora is the finest and most flexible layer of timing. It works best on top of the others:

• Avoid the day's set periods first. Check Rahu Kalam, Yamagandam and Gulika Kalam, then choose a suitable hora from what is left.
• Midday option. The Abhijit Muhurta around noon is another favourable window on most days.
• Personal fit. For something important, also see whether the day's star suits your birth star, as explained in Tara Bala.
• Your own chart. The hora of a planet that is strong and well placed in your birth chart tends to feel especially supportive for you.

Hora, Hora chart and Hora Lagna

Three different ideas share the name:

• the planetary hora, the hour of the day described here;
• the Hora chart (D2), a divisional chart in which each sign is split into a Sun half and a Moon half, read for wealth;
• Hora Lagna, a special ascendant used in Jaimini astrology.

Summary

Each day has 24 planetary horas counted from sunrise. The first belongs to the weekday lord, and the rest follow the order Sun, Venus, Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars. Find the hour after sunrise, read the lord from the weekday table, and match it to the task: Jupiter for most good beginnings, Mercury for study and trade, Venus for the arts and purchases, the Sun for authority, the Moon for travel, and Mars and Saturn for energetic or patient work.

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See Also:hora planetary hours muhurtha panchang auspicious time weekday lords vedic astrology basics