Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Mon 17 Jul 1978

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 22:24 on Mon 17 Jul to 18:52 on Tue 18 Jul, between the two evenings’ pradosha, touching neither. The Nirnayasindhu then takes the earlier day: Mon 17 Jul. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 132°–144° is the 12th, Shukla Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:05 here. Ekadashi ended at 01:29, before it. Dwadashi ends at 22:24, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Jul, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sun 16 Jul ran from sunset 19:42 Sun to sunrise 05:05, 9 h 23 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 37 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:05 to 19:41, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 49 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:41 to 05:06 Tue, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 10 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Anuradha spans 213°20′–226°40′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 223°20′. It leaves at 08:44, for Jyeshtha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 90.4° + 224.4° = 314.8°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 306°40′–320°00′ is the 24th, Shukla. It ends at 13:00, then Brahma.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dwadashi is Bava and the second Balava. Bava runs until 12:01, when the lead reaches 138°; Balava until 22:24.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:05 to 05:06 Tue, so the hours after midnight still belong to Somawara.

An amanta month runs from new moon to new moon and takes its name from the rashi the Sun is in at the new moon that begins it: Mithuna gives Ashadha. The Sun enters Karka on 16 Jul, inside the month. The next new moon, 4 Aug, finds it in Karka and begins Shravana.

A purnimanta month runs from full moon to full moon, so its waning half comes first. It shares its name with the amanta month that its second half falls in: the new moon of 5 Jul, with the Sun in Mithuna, began Ashadha. This Shukla paksha reads Ashadha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 7 Apr 1978, 23:15 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 96.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2035; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1900.