Muhurta for Moving Home — Griha Pravesha

Moving into a new home is called griha pravesha in the tradition — "entering the house". The classical texts treat three cases: entering a newly built house, returning to a house after a long absence, and entering a house after repairs or rebuilding. The rules differ in strictness, but the basis is the same.

The sense of the rite is that a house receives its dwellers once, and the qualities of that moment stay with it for a long time. The entry is therefore arranged no less carefully than a wedding: the chart of the moment is read here as the chart of the family's life within the new walls. For rented and temporary housing the same rules are applied more loosely — see below.

What answers for a housewarming

The chief indicator is the fourth house of the chart of the moment and its lord: home, land, peace and the very ability to feel at home. The natural significators are the Moon (peace of mind and comfort), Mars (land and walls), Saturn (old buildings and durability) and Venus (the convenience and beauty of a dwelling).

Of the chart of the moment one asks that the fourth house and its lord be free of malefics, that a benefic stand in a kendra — the first, fourth, seventh or tenth house — and that the malefics, if any, be moved into the third, sixth and eleventh. The eighth and twelfth houses should be left empty: the first answers for duration, the second for expense and loss.

Auspicious guidelines

For a housewarming one takes nakshatras of a stable nature: Rohini, Mrigashira, Uttara Phalguni, Uttara Ashadha, Uttara Bhadrapada, Chitra, Anuradha, Revati, Dhanishta, Shatabhisha. Tithis: 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 13. Weekdays: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday; Tuesday is traditionally not used for entering a house.

Within the day the hours of daylight are preferred, more often the first half: entering after dark is not approved. If no suitable hour with a good lagna can be found in the day, abhijit muhurta helps — about twenty-four minutes around local noon, which count as fit for nearly any undertaking.

In the chart of the moment a lagna in a fixed sign is preferable — Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius: the house must stand. One looks at the fourth house and its lord, which answer for the dwelling and the peace within it, and at the Moon: a bright, waxing Moon unafflicted by malefics counts as the chief condition for peace in the house.

Month and season

Besides the day, tradition looks at the lunar month. For griha pravesha one usually names Magha, Phalguna, Vaishakha and Jyeshtha; some schools add Kartika. Ashadha, Shravana, Bhadrapada and Ashvina are avoided for entering a house. The regional traditions differ noticeably here, so it is wiser to keep to one school than to assemble a list from several.

Separately one checks whether Jupiter and Venus are combust: their invisibility (asta) closes not only weddings but the family rites, and entering a house is one of them. The intercalary month adhika masa is not used for a housewarming either.

Matching the residents' charts

The date is chosen not "in general" but for the owner of the house — usually the person in whose name it stands, or the eldest of the family. Chandra bala is checked: the transiting Moon must not stand in the fourth, eighth or twelfth house from the natal Moon. Tara bala is checked: the nakshatra of the day must not fall into janma, vipat, pratyari or vadha from the natal nakshatra.

It is worth looking at the current periods as well. A move during a difficult antardasha of the lord of the fourth house, or in the middle of Saturn's transit over the Moon, often turns out more troublesome than expected — not because of the date itself but because of what is going on around it. Both calculations rest on the natal Moon and so need a correct birth time: if it is approximate, it makes sense to go through rectification first.

What is avoided

One does not enter a house during chaturmasya (the four months beginning with shayana ekadashi) — in the strict tradition this is one of the firmest prohibitions for griha pravesha; nor during adhika masa; nor on the days of eclipses; nor on amavasya; nor in the karana vishti. The times when the Sun passes through signs held unfavourable for a housewarming in a particular regional school are avoided as well — the differences here are large, and one should follow a single tradition rather than mix several.

Of the daily stretches, rahu kala, yamaganda and gulika kala of the chosen day are excluded; they are reckoned from local sunrise and so are taken for your own city. The rikta tithis — the 4th, 9th and 14th lunar days — are not taken, nor the spoiled yogas: Vyatipata, Vaidhriti, Parigha, Vyaghata, Shula, Ganda, Atiganda and Vajra.

Moving without a rite

For an ordinary move into rented or already lived-in housing the rules are applied more loosely: it is enough to avoid vishti, eclipses, amavasya and a plainly unfavourable Moon, and to pick daylight hours with a fixed lagna within the day. Water, fire and grain are traditionally brought into the new house first, and this is done in the chosen stretch even if the removal of the belongings is spread over several days.

That is the usual practical way out when the dates are dictated by a tenancy agreement and the movers: the muhurta is taken to be not the day of the removal but the short stretch of the first entry with water, fire and grain. It lasts minutes, and one can nearly always be found.

The rite in that stretch is simple and looks much the same in different traditions: a vessel of water and grain is carried in first, then a fire is lit and milk boiled on it so that it rises, and only afterwards are the belongings brought in. The householders step in with the right foot, and they try to spend the first night in the new house themselves rather than leaving it empty straight after the entry.

The three cases of entry

Apurva — entering a house built for the first time: the rules apply in full, including the month, the asta of Jupiter and Venus and a clean fourth house. Sapurva — returning to one's own house after a long absence: the requirements are milder, and it is enough to avoid the forbidden tithis, vishti, eclipses and an unfavourable Moon. Dvandva — entering after rebuilding, a fire or serious repairs: this is treated closer to the first case, because the house is in effect beginning its life again.

The distinction is practical: it spares unnecessary strictness where none is required and prevents the rules being relaxed where the entry really is a first one. If it is unclear which case a move belongs to, one goes by the scale of the work: a change of residents is sapurva, a change of the walls and the layout is dvandva.

The order of work

• establish whose house it is: whose chart the date is being chosen for;
• select the months permissible for griha pravesha and exclude adhika masa, chaturmasya and the combustion of Jupiter and Venus;
• within the month select days by nakshatra, tithi and weekday, discarding vishti, eclipses, amavasya and rikta tithis;
• check the remaining days against the owner's chandra bala and tara bala;
• within the day find a stretch with a fixed lagna, a clean fourth house and a benefic in a kendra, outside rahu kala;
• set the first entry with water, fire and grain in that stretch, and plan the removal of the belongings freely.

What muhurta does not do

It does not inspect the house for you. Damp walls, disputed papers and an inconvenient district stay the same on the most auspicious day. And conversely: if the housing was chosen sensibly and no flawless date falls within the necessary term, the move is not put off for six months — one takes the best available stretch.

The general rules of date selection are set out in the date selection section, the calendar indicators — tithis, nakshatras, eclipses — in the calendar, and the nearest related cases in the texts on buying property and travel.