Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Fri 14 Feb 2003

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 12:33 on Fri 14 Feb to 11:38 on Sat 15 Feb, so only Friday’s pradosha (17:53–20:32) 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: 132°–144° is the 12th, Shukla Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 07:11 here. Ekadashi ended at 12:41 Thu, before it. Dwadashi ends at 12:33, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 1 Feb, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Thu 13 Feb ran from sunset 17:52 Thu to sunrise 07:11, 13 h 19 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 53 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 07:11 to 17:53, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 20 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:53 to 07:10 Sat, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 39 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′. Punarvasu spans 80°00′–93°20′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 80°. It leaves at 03:10 Sat, for Pushya.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 300.9° + 82.2° = 383.1°, one full turn and 23.1°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 13°20′–26°40′ is the 2nd, Priti. It ends at 13:07, then Ayushmana.

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 ended at 00:43, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 12:33.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 07:11 to 07:10 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: Makara gives Magha. The Sun enters Kumbha on 13 Feb, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 Mar, finds it in Kumbha and begins Phalguna.

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 1 Feb, with the Sun in Makara, began Magha. This Shukla paksha reads Magha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 13 Apr 2002, 03:21 Sat. Since then the Sun has moved 302.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2059; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1924.