Chaitra Navratri marks the beginning of Hindu New Year which is celebrated with a lot of pomp and grandeur across India. It is a 9 day-long festival that celebrates 9 avatars of Goddess Durga. As part of the festivities, people visit Devi temples, observe fasts and recite mantras to elevate themselves spiritually.It is well known that Hindu festivals are an amalgam of rituals, rites, processions, fasting, feeding the poor, music and dance, religious ceremonies, and many other activities of traditional character. We can not imagine Hindu festivals without the inbuilt components like rituals, muhrats (auspicious beginnings), and Panchang (Vedic Hindu Calendar). This article attempts to provide basic concepts of this 5000-year-old science called Panchang which is based on traditional astronomical knowledge whose calculations are awe-inspiring!! In a layman’s language Panchang is nothing but a “mirror of the sky”, in the form of ink and paper which tabulates the position and m...