Godhuli is one of the muhurtas or divisions of the day. From the Vedic period, the day has been divided into different parts. Several division like two, three, four, five and fifteen, are mentioned in Vedic literature.
For instance, Rig Veda and Taittiriya Brahmana give names of the five divisions: pratah (sunrise), sangava (collecting cows for grazing in the jungle), madhyandina (midday), aprahana (afternoon), and sanda (evening).
Raja martanda defines godhuli as the time when the sun, ready to set, appears like a bindi (red dot) placed by women on their forehead, and starts are yet to start twinkling in the sky, and the environment gets filled with the dust raised by the cows returning back home (godhuli literally means the dust raised by the cows).
Sage Bhaguri states that this time is highly auspicious, since it brings food, health, wealth and prosperity.
Muhurta Ganapati gives the exact duration of the godhuli as half ghati (twelve minutes before sunset and twelve minutes after sunset).
Some scholars have assigned to it two ghatis after half the sun disc has set.
According to other muhurta texts, like Muhurta-martanda, lagna chandrika, lagna ratnakara, at the time of godhuli, no inauspicious effect due to the tithi (lunar day), lagna (ascendant), or nakshatra (asterisk) can manifest.
Lalla and Manohara independently state that for marriage, when no other auspicious period is available, the godhuli is preferred. It is also known as goraja muhurta.