Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Tue 8 Feb 2011

Saraswati Puja is done in purvahna, the first half of the day. Panchami runs from 19:36 on Mon 7 Feb to 22:09 on Tue 8 Feb, so only Tuesday’s purvahna (07:18–12:32) falls within it. No text giving Vasant Panchami’s time was found; purvahna is Tithika’s convention.

Vasant Panchami: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 48°–60° is the 5th, Shukla Panchami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 07:18 here. Chaturthi ended at 19:36 Mon, before it. Panchami ends at 22:09, when the lead reaches 60°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 3 Feb, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Mon 7 Feb ran from sunset 17:45 Mon to sunrise 07:18, 13 h 33 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 54 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 07:18 to 17:46, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 18 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:46 to 07:17 Wed, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 41 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′. Revati spans 346°40′–360°00′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 346°40′. It leaves at 07:20 Wed, for Ashwini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 294.8° + 348.1° = 642.9°, one full turn and 282.9°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 280°00′–293°20′ is the 22nd, Sadhya. It ends at 02:42 Wed, then Shubha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Panchami is Bava and the second Balava. Bava runs until 08:53, when the lead reaches 54°; Balava until 22:09.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 07:18 to 07:17 Wed, so the hours after midnight still belong to Mangalawara.

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, 5 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 3 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: 16 Mar 2010, 05:01 Tue. Since then the Sun has moved 323.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2067; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1932.