Guides

Vedic traditions, explained for families abroad

Plain-English answers to common questions, with the local details that matter when you live in the US, Canada or Australia.

Lit clay lamps on a tray of flower petals Calendar Festival calendar 2026–27 Navratri, Diwali, Pongal, Ugadi, Holi, Onam and more, dated for the US, Canada and Australia, with the periods many families avoid for weddings. NavratriDiwaliPongalHoliUgadiJanmashtamiGanesh ChaturthiOnam Read the calendar →
A bride's hennaed hands receiving rice at a weddingMarriage

Kundli matching and porutham

The 8 kootas and 36 gunas, the 10 poruthams, why the birth time matters, and what a score can and can't tell you.

Read the guide → A kalash with a coconut and mango leavesAuspicious dates

Muhurat abroad

Why a date worked out for India isn't right in Toronto or Sydney, and what to send for a wedding or griha pravesh.

Read the guide → A priest performing aarti with a lampPuja

A puja in India, from abroad

What a sankalp is, what to send, how the time difference works, and what to check before booking any puja service.

Read the guide → Hands holding a small devotional bookConsultation

Preparing for a consultation

Finding your birth time, choosing 30 or 60 minutes, preparing your questions, and what an astrologer can and can't help with.

Read the guide →

Free tools

A lit clay diyaFamily dates

Tithi birthdays, star birthdays and shraddha

Enter a birth or a death once and see the day to keep it each year in your own city, for your family's tradition. Add them all to your calendar.

Find the dates → A sample birth star card for Purva PhalguniBirth star

Your janma nakshatra

Your birth star, pada and Moon sign, with the traditional name syllables and a card to share with your family.

Find your star → A brass kalash with mango leaves and marigoldsHome puja planner

Lakshmi Puja, Karva Chauth, Navratri, Satyanarayan

The day and muhurat for your own city, a samagri checklist with substitutes you can find abroad, the steps with their sources, and explanations for children and parents.

Plan a puja →
Did you know?

Old sky, new homes

A few facts about the families these guides are for, and the astronomy the calendar rests on.

  • 4.9 millionpeople in the US reported Asian Indian ancestry.US Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2022
  • 830,000Canadians reported Hinduism as their religion, 2.3% of the population, up from 1.0% in 2001.Statistics Canada, Census 2021
  • 684,000Australians reported Hinduism, 2.7% of the population, up from 440,300 five years earlier.Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census 2021
  • 3.1416Aryabhata's value of pi, written in the late 5th century CE, in the same work that says the Earth turns on its axis.The Aryabhatiya (via Wikipedia, “Aryabhata”)
  • 2010The year the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur, an observatory of some twenty fixed instruments built in the early 18th century, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.UNESCO World Heritage Centre, ref. 1338
  • 24°How far the Vedic and Western zodiacs have drifted apart, about 1° every 72 years as the Earth’s axis slowly wobbles. See why.Axial precession, a cycle of about 25,800 years