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. Lucknow (81.0°E) is 3.8 degrees east of Delhi (77.2°E) — sunrise is 15 min earlier than Delhi. Rahu Kaal falls earlier here than Delhi and Jaipur. CosmosPandit uses precision astronomy (Jean Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms) to calculate the exact sunrise at Lucknow's coordinates (26.846700°N, 80.946200°E), giving you the correct Rahu Kaal every day.
Lucknow, the City of Nawabs, has a deeply devout Hindu character — the Hanumangarhi temple draws thousands daily, while Ayodhya — birthplace of Lord Ram — is just 135km away. For Lucknow's communities, observing Rahu Kaal before auspicious events is obligatory. Lucknow at 81.0°E has a sunrise 15 minutes earlier than Delhi, making its Rahu Kaal timing slightly different from the capital.
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:
Almost — Ayodhya (82.19°E) is 1.24 degrees east of Lucknow (80.95°E), so Ayodhya's sunrise is about 5 minutes earlier. For religious rituals in Ayodhya, using Ayodhya's own coordinates matters. CosmosPandit calculates for each city separately.
Many printed Panchangams in UP are published from Varanasi (82.97°E), which is 2 degrees east of Lucknow (80.95°E). This creates an 8-minute sunrise difference. CosmosPandit calculates from Lucknow's actual coordinates, giving accurate local timings.
Chhath Puja is timed precisely to sunset (Sandhya Arghya) and sunrise (Usha Arghya). CosmosPandit's Panchang screen shows exact sunrise and sunset times for Lucknow every day, and Rahu Kaal is calculated from that same sunrise. Download the app to track this for any city.
Astronomically precise Rahu Kaal timings for 25 major Indian cities.