Sunrise Direction in India: Does the Sun Rise Due East?

The Sun rises in the east, but almost never exactly in the east. Watched from the same spot through a year, the point on the horizon where it comes up walks north for half the year and south for the other half. At Delhi in 2027 that point reaches 27.5° north of east in June and 26.4° south of east in December, a swing of 53.9°. Only on two mornings, around 20 March and 24 September, does it rise due east.

The figures here were computed from the JPL DE421 ephemeris for twelve Indian cities, using the same sunrise rule as the site’s panchang: the moment the top edge of the Sun meets a flat horizon, with the bending of light by the air allowed for. Every New Delhi sunrise and sunset time from 1 November 2026 to the end of 2027 matches the panchang to the minute. What is new is the direction, measured as an azimuth.

Reading an Azimuth

An azimuth is the bearing of a point on the horizon, counted in degrees from true north through east: 0° is north, 90° due east, 180° south and 270° due west. A sunrise at 80° is 10° north of east; one at 100° is 10° south of east. On 1 November 2026 the Sun will rise at Delhi at 106.0°, which is 16.0° south of east, and the point will still be moving south. Every bearing here is from true north. A magnetic compass points a little away from true north, by an amount that depends on the place, and this page makes no correction for it.

Delhi Through 2027

The table gives the sunrise time and bearing at New Delhi on the 1st and 15th of every month of 2027. The direction column is the same bearing read against due east.

The bearing changes slowly around the June and December solstices and quickly in between. Around the March and September equinoxes the sunrise point moves about 0.45° along the horizon from one morning to the next, close to the width of the Sun’s own disc. In late June and late December it barely moves at all.

Due East on Two Mornings

In 2027 the sunrise nearest due east falls on 20 March and on 24 September at every one of the twelve cities, each time within 0.2° of the exact bearing. Those mornings lie close to the March and September equinoxes, when the Sun is near the celestial equator; the top-edge rule and the bending of light by the air move the due-east morning a day or so from the equinox itself. On all the other mornings a wall or doorway that faces exactly east looks to one side of the rising Sun, often by a wide margin: on 165 mornings of 2027 at Delhi the sunrise is more than 20° from due east, in long stretches around both solstices.

The Solstices: Where the Sun Stands Still

The word solstice means the Sun standing still, and the bearings show why. At Delhi the sunrise is at its farthest north, 62.5°, on 21 and 22 June 2027, around the June solstice of 21 June. At its farthest south, 116.4°, it holds the same bearing to a tenth of a degree for nine mornings, 18–26 December 2026 and again 18–26 December 2027, around the December solstice (22 December in 2026). Then it turns and starts back north.

That December turn is Uttarayana in the tropical reckoning, the Sun beginning its northward course. The panchang counts Uttarayana from a different moment, the Sun’s entry into sidereal Makara, which comes on 14 January 2027, 23 days after the solstice. By then the sunrise has already moved back north. The Uttarayan and Dakshinayan page sets the two reckonings side by side.

The Earliest Sunrise Is Not the Northernmost

Direction and clock time do not peak together. Delhi’s earliest sunrise in 2027, 05:22 IST, comes on 7–15 June, about ten days before the sunrise reaches its farthest north. The latest, 07:15 IST, comes on 8–15 January 2027, after the sunrise has already left its farthest south. The clock time also carries the drift of solar noon through the year, which the bearing does not, so each pair of extremes falls between about ten days and three weeks apart. Sunrise times for other cities, day by day, are on the city panchang pages.

Farther North, Wider Swing

The swing depends on latitude. Of the twelve cities, Chandigarh, the farthest north, has the widest, 55.1° between the June and December sunrises; Chennai and Bengaluru, the farthest south, have the narrowest, 48.2°. The swing grows with latitude without exception.

Nearer the equator the Sun climbs more steeply out of the horizon, so its rising point stays closer to east. Latitude also decides whether the noon Sun ever stands overhead: north of the Tropic of Cancer it never does, and for the cities south of it the Zero Shadow Day page dates the two days it does.

Sunset Mirrors Sunrise

The Sun sets as far north of west as it rose north of east. On every day from November 2026 to December 2027 the two bearings mirror each other across the north-south line within 0.3°. Delhi’s sunset reaches 297.5° in June, 27.5° north of west, and 243.6° in December, 26.4° south of west. So on a June evening the Sun goes down well to the right of due west for someone facing west, and on a December evening well to the left.

What This Page Does Not Claim

The bearings assume a flat, open horizon. The city table is computed at sea level; the Delhi table uses the panchang’s elevation for New Delhi. A hill, a building or a haze layer changes both the moment the Sun appears and the point where it does, and the page does not say what anyone will see on a given morning. It makes no ruling on which way a house, a door or a puja room should face: the site’s vastu pages, such as best direction to sleep, report what that tradition holds, and this page only measures where the Sun meets the horizon.

In Brief

• Due east: only around 20 March and 24 September, at all twelve cities
• Farthest north at Delhi: 62.5°, 27.5° north of east, on 21 and 22 June 2027
• Farthest south at Delhi: 116.4°, 26.4° south of east, for nine mornings around the December solstice
• Widest swing: Chandigarh, 55.1°; narrowest: Chennai and Bengaluru, 48.2°
• Sunset: the mirror image, as far north or south of west

The Moon’s rising point swings farther than the Sun’s in these years, and the moonrise direction page explains why. Why the Earth is nearest the Sun in January, yet the seasons do not follow that distance, is on the perihelion and aphelion page. In Hindi: सूर्य किस दिशा में उगता है: भारत में सूर्योदय की दिशा, 2027.