Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Thu 3 Mar 2011

Shiva’s worship centres on nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Chaturdashi runs from 00:16 on Thu 3 Mar to 02:25 on Fri 4 Mar, touching nishitha on both nights. When it does, the Nirnayasindhu takes the later day: Thu 3 Mar.

Maha Shivratri: every date in Baoding

Shiva’s worship centres on nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Chaturdashi runs from 00:16 on Thu 3 Mar to 02:25 on Fri 4 Mar, touching nishitha on both nights. The Nirnayasindhu takes the night it holds more of: Thu 3 Mar. No text giving Masik Shivratri’s time was found; nishitha is Tithika’s convention.

Masik Shivratri: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 336°–348° is the 29th, Krishna Chaturdashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:48 here. Trayodashi ended at 00:16, before it. Chaturdashi ends at 02:25 Fri, when the lead reaches 348°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 18 Feb, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 2 Mar ran from sunset 18:10 Wed to sunrise 06:48, 12 h 38 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:48 to 18:12, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 25 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:12 to 06:47 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 34 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′. Dhanishtha spans 293°20′–306°40′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 296°40′. It leaves at 02:08 Fri, for Shatabhisha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 318° + 297° = 615°, one full turn and 255°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 253°20′–266°40′ is the 20th, Shiva. It ends at 04:22 Fri, then Siddha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Chaturdashi is Vishti and the second Shakuni. Vishti runs until 13:19, when the lead reaches 342°; Shakuni until 02:25 Fri.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:48 to 06:47 Fri, so the hours after midnight still belong to Guruwara.

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 5 Mar, with the Sun in Kumbha, begins Phalguna. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Phalguna here, and Magha in the amanta count.

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 346.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2067; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1932.