Kimstughna, the Karana of the New Day

Kimstughna is the eleventh and last karana and the fourth of the four fixed (sthira) karanas. It occurs once in the lunar month, on the first half of the first tithi of the bright fortnight, the karana that begins the new lunar month just after the new moon. Its name is glossed as the slayer of what, and unlike the other fixed karanas of the dark of the Moon it is regarded in the almanac tradition as auspicious, fitting for its position at the fresh start of the waxing cycle. These are the conventions of the calendar tradition. With Kimstughna the count of eleven karanas closes: seven movable karanas recurring through the month and four fixed karanas around the new moon, together filling the sixty half-tithis of the synodic month.

The gloss "slayer of what" reflects a name whose precise sense is not fully transparent even within the tradition, and some later commentators offer variant explanations of Kimstughna's meaning without full agreement; what is secure is its function as the karana that opens the bright fortnight immediately after the new moon, the one fixed karana read as auspicious rather than cautious, marking the karana sequence's own return to favourable ground at the same moment the tithi count restarts at Pratipada. Some regional almanac traditions give this eleventh karana an alternate name in vernacular sources, though Kimstughna remains the standard Sanskrit term used in the classical muhurta literature and in most pan-Indian panchanga publications.