Panchang in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador Thu 17 May 2012

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 11:06 on Thu 17 May to 13:36 on Fri 18 May, so only Thursday’s pradosha (18:11–20:36) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Cuenca

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 312°–324° is the 27th, Krishna Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:12 here. Ekadashi ended at 08:51 Wed, before it. Dwadashi ends at 11:06, when the lead reaches 324°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 5 May, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 16 May ran from sunset 18:11 Wed to sunrise 06:12, 12 h 1 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:12 to 18:11, 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 night here, 18:11 to 06:13 Fri, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Revati spans 346°40′–360°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 353°20′. It leaves at 16:57, for Ashwini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 32.9° + 354.7° = 387.6°, one full turn and 27.6°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 26°40′–40°00′ is the 3rd, Ayushmana. It ends at 05:26 Fri, then Saubhagya.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dwadashi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava ended at 21:57 Wed, when the lead reached 318°; Taitila runs until 11:06.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:12 to 06:13 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: Mesha gives Vaishakha. The Sun enters Vrishabha on 14 May, inside the month. The next new moon, 20 May, 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 20 May, with the Sun in Vrishabha, begins Jyeshtha. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Jyeshtha here, and Vaishakha in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 22 Mar 2012, 09:37 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 54.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.