Hora - Planetary Hour of Vedic Astrology

Planetary Day

According to Vedic Astrology, each day of the week is influenced by a planet with its energy.  Days of the week and the ruling planets are:

Sunday - Sun

Monday - Moon

Tuesday - Mars

Wednesday - Mercury

Thursday - Jupiter

Friday - Venus

Saturday - Saturn

Hora - Planetary Hour

In the same way, each hour of the day is influenced by a planet's energy. As per Vedic astrology, the day starts at sunrise rather than midnight. The Vedic day is between sunrise to next sunrise.  The day is divided into 24 equal parts and they are called Horas. A Hora is almost equal to an hour. The first hora (hour) of the day is always ruled by the ruler of the day. For example, the first hora following sunrise on a Sunday is ruled by Sun and the first hora following sunrise on a Thursday is ruled by Jupiter.

The order of the planetary hours is different from the days of the week order and it is Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun, Venus, Mercury and Moon. This special order is based on the velocity of the planets in the geocentric approach. The order starts with the slow-moving planet Saturn and ends with the fastest moving planet Moon. The below table shows the days and Horas along with the ruling planets.

Astrological Timing

What is the practical use of Horas or How you can take advantage of them? Choose the appropriate Hora - planetary hour - to strengthen or utilize the energy of a particular planet.  For example, If Sun is related to your Business based on your Vedic chart then choose Sun Horas to take care of important business activities. Jupiter Hora is favorable in general for learning, spiritual practices and sharing knowledge. 

Finding Hora Timings

We need the sunrise time of the day to find the start of the day / the first hora of the day. Once we know the first hora start time then the subsequent Horas start an hour apart in the sequential order. There are 2 ways to find the sunrise time for a place. 

1. Online search:

A simple online search can show you the sunrise time of the day for your search location. 

2. Planetary Positions from www.vedicastrochart.com:

Sidereal planetary positions are shown interactively for a given location, date and time on the Planetary Positions page of www.vedicastrochart.com. Under the Panchanga section, you will find the sunrise time and current hora of the given location, date and time.