Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Fri 21 Mar 1997

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 05:25 on Fri 21 Mar to 08:02 on Sat 22 Mar, so only Friday’s pradosha (18:30–20:52) falls within it. 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: 144°–156° is the 13th, Shukla Trayodashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:20 here. Dwadashi ended at 05:25, before it. Trayodashi ends at 08:02 Sat, when the lead reaches 156°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 9 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Trayodashi began at 05:25, before sunrise at 06:20, and ends at 08:02 Sat, after the next sunrise at 06:19 Sat. Both days read Trayodashi: it is a vriddhi tithi here.

The night of Thu 20 Mar ran from sunset 18:29 Thu to sunrise 06:20, 11 h 51 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 47 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:20 to 18:30, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 31 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:30 to 06:19 Sat, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 28 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′. Magha spans 120°00′–133°20′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 120°. It leaves at 07:30 Sat, for Purva Phalguni.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 336.5° + 120.9° = 457.4°, one full turn and 97.4°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 93°20′–106°40′ is the 8th, Dhriti. It ends at 23:34, then Shula.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Trayodashi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava runs until 18:44, when the lead reaches 150°; Taitila until 08:02 Sat.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:20 to 06:19 Sat, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shukrawara.

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: Kumbha gives Phalguna. The Sun enters Meena on 14 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 7 Apr, finds it in Meena and begins Chaitra.

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 9 Mar, with the Sun in Kumbha, began Phalguna. This Shukla paksha reads Phalguna in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 19 Mar 1996, 18:44 Tue. Since then the Sun has moved 361.2° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2053; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1918.