Panchang in Chahārbāgh, Alborz Province, Iran Mon 26 Aug 2024

Krishna’s birth is celebrated at nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Ashtami runs from 01:39 on Mon 26 Aug to 00:20 on Tue 27 Aug, so it touches only Monday night’s nishitha (23:46–00:30 Tue). Every reading takes that day.

Janmashtami: every date in Chahārbāgh

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 264°–276° is the 23rd, Krishna Ashtami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:34 here. Saptami ended at 01:39, before it. Ashtami ends at 00:20 Tue, when the lead reaches 276°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 19 Aug, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Sun 25 Aug ran from sunset 18:43 Sun to sunrise 05:34, 10 h 51 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 43 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:34 to 18:42, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 38 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:42 to 05:35 Tue, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 21 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′. Krittika spans 26°40′–40°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 33°20′. It leaves at 13:55, for Rohini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 129.1° + 35.2° = 164.3°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 160°00′–173°20′ is the 13th, Vyaghata. It ends at 20:16, then Harshana.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Ashtami is Balava and the second Kaulava. Balava runs until 12:55, when the lead reaches 270°; Kaulava until 00:20 Tue.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:34 to 05:35 Tue, so the hours after midnight still belong to Somawara.

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: Karka gives Shravana. The Sun enters Simha on 16 Aug, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 Sep, finds it in Simha and begins Bhadrapada.

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 Sep, with the Sun in Simha, begins Bhadrapada. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Bhadrapada here, and Shravana in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 8 Apr 2024, 21:50 Mon. Since then the Sun has moved 133.9° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2081; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1946.