Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Fri 6 May 2011

Akshaya Tritiya’s puja is done in purvahna, the first half of the day. Tritiya runs from 17:44 on Thu 5 May to 18:37 on Fri 6 May, so only Friday’s purvahna (05:15–12:14) falls within it.

Akshaya Tritiya: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 24°–36° is the 3rd, Shukla Tritiya. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:15 here. Dwitiya ended at 17:44 Thu, before it. Tritiya ends at 18:37, when the lead reaches 36°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 3 May, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Thu 5 May ran from sunset 19:13 Thu to sunrise 05:15, 10 h 2 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 40 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:15 to 19:14, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 44 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:14 to 05:14 Sat, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 15 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′. Rohini spans 40°00′–53°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 50°. It leaves at 10:35, for Mrigashira.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 21° + 50.5° = 71.5°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 66°40′–80°00′ is the 6th, Atiganda. It ends at 20:11, then Sukarma.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Tritiya is Taitila and the second Garaja. Taitila runs until 06:14, when the lead reaches 30°; Garaja until 18:37.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:15 to 05:14 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: Mesha gives Vaishakha. The Sun enters Vrishabha on 15 May, inside the month. The next new moon, 2 Jun, finds it in Vrishabha and begins Jyeshtha.

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 May, with the Sun in Mesha, began Vaishakha. This Shukla paksha reads Vaishakha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 3 Apr 2011, 22:32 Sun. Since then the Sun has moved 31.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.