Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Sat 19 Mar 2011

Holika is burnt in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset, outside bhadra. Purnima runs from 06:06 on Sat 19 Mar to 02:10 on Sun 20 Mar, so only Saturday’s pradosha (18:28–20:51) falls within it.

Holika Dahan: every date in Baoding

Purnima follows the tithi at sunrise. Purnima runs from 06:06 on Sat 19 Mar to 02:10 on Sun 20 Mar, so it holds sunrise only on Sat 19 Mar, at 06:24. No text giving Purnima’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Purnima: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 168°–180° is the 15th, Shukla Purnima. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:24 here. Chaturdashi ended at 06:06, before it. Purnima ends at 02:10 Sun, when the lead reaches 180°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Fri 18 Mar ran from sunset 18:27 Fri to sunrise 06:24, 11 h 57 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 47 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:24 to 18:28, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 30 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:28 to 06:22 Sun, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 29 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′. Purva Phalguni spans 133°20′–146°40′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 140°. It leaves at 13:30, for Uttara Phalguni.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 334° + 142.1° = 476.1°, one full turn and 116.1°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 106°40′–120°00′ is the 9th, Shula. It ends at 12:09, then Ganda.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Purnima is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti runs until 16:09, when the lead reaches 174°; Bava until 02:10 Sun.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:24 to 06:22 Sun, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shaniwara.

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 15 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 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 5 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: 16 Mar 2010, 05:01 Tue. Since then the Sun has moved 362.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2067; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1932.