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. Chennai (80.3°E) sunrise is 9 min later than IST meridian. Rahu Kaal differs from Mumbai by 28 min and from Kolkata by 33 min. CosmosPandit uses precision astronomy (Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms) to calculate the exact sunrise at Chennai's coordinates (13.082700°N, 80.270700°E), giving you the correct Rahu Kaal every day.
Chennai (Madras) is Tamil Nadu's capital and a centre of Shaiva and Vaishnava traditions, home to the ancient Kapaleeshwarar temple in Mylapore and the Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane — both over a thousand years old. In Tamil tradition, it is called Rahu Kalam (not Rahu Kaal) and is observed with great rigour — Tamil Brahmin households consult the Panchangam daily. Chennai's sunrise at 80.3°E is earlier than Mumbai's by 28 minutes.
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, Rahu Kalam is the Tamil name for Rahu Kaal. Both refer to the inauspicious 90-minute period governed by Rahu (the north lunar node). In Tamil tradition, it is observed particularly strictly — no auspicious work begins during Rahu Kalam. The calculation method is identical.
No. Coimbatore (76.96°E) is 3.3 degrees west of Chennai (80.27°E), making Coimbatore's sunrise about 13 minutes later. This means Rahu Kalam timings differ between the two cities. CosmosPandit calculates precisely for each.
Yes. CosmosPandit supports Tamil (தமிழ்) natively — all timings, Rashifal, and Panchang are available in Tamil. Download the app and select Tamil from the language settings.
Astronomically precise Rahu Kaal timings for 25 major Indian cities.