Agnihotra for Windows

CNET Editors' review

by: CNET staff on July 28, 2009

Agnihotra for Windows is a helpful tool for people who wish to perform Agnihotra, especially beginners. This tastefully done program takes the ritual seriously and contains plenty of informative resources.

The program's interface is simple and attractive, although most of its functions are accessed by right-clicking on the program's icon in the system tray, and some of the menus-within-menus could be better organized. The program is still fairly easy to navigate, and we had no trouble adjusting the settings to our liking. The heart of Agnihotra for Windows is its reminder feature, which alerts users before sunrise and sunset so they can prepare for Agnihotra. The program helpfully asks for the user's location upon setup, so that the times used for sunrise and sunset are exact. The program also contains a printable calendar of times that can be used to plan ahead for the ritual. Several settings are available for the ritual itself; in Office mode the program discreetly and silently reminds users of the coming ritual, while Training mode shows large audible alerts and then displays and plays a recording of the ritual's mantras. The program's online User Guide gives a decent explanation of the program's features, and a built-in tutorial explains the steps involved in Agnihotra and allows users to listen to and practice the mantras.

Agnihotra for Windows is free. It installs without issues but leaves a folder behind upon removal. We recommend this program to all users.