Panchang in Baoding, Hebei, China Wed 21 Oct 2015

Durga Ashtami follows the tithi at sunrise. Ashtami runs from 16:53 on Tue 20 Oct to 15:59 on Wed 21 Oct, so it holds sunrise only on Wed 21 Oct, at 06:32. No text giving Durga Ashtami’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Durga Ashtami: every date in Baoding

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 84°–96° is the 8th, Shukla Ashtami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:32 here. Saptami ended at 16:53 Tue, before it. Ashtami ends at 15:59, when the lead reaches 96°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 13 Oct, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Tue 20 Oct ran from sunset 17:33 Tue to sunrise 06:32, 12 h 59 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 51 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:32 to 17:32, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 22 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:32 to 06:33 Thu, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 37 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′. Uttara Ashadha spans 266°40′–280°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 273°20′. It leaves at 16:49, for Shravana.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 183.1° + 274.2° = 457.3°, one full turn and 97.3°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 93°20′–106°40′ is the 8th, Dhriti. It ends at 21:54, then Shula.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Ashtami is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti ended at 04:31, when the lead reached 90°; Bava runs until 15:59.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:32 to 06:33 Thu, so the hours after midnight still belong to Budhawara.

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: Kanya gives Ashwina. The Sun enters Tula on 18 Oct, inside the month. The next new moon, 12 Nov, finds it in Tula and begins Kartika.

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 13 Oct, with the Sun in Kanya, began Ashwina. This Shukla paksha reads Ashwina in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 20 Mar 2015, 17:36 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 207.7° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2072; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1937.