Panchang in Diffa, Niger Wed 18 Jun 1997

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 23:52 on Tue 17 Jun to 23:15 on Wed 18 Jun, so only Wednesday’s pradosha (18:38–20:51) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 144°–156° is the 13th, Shukla Trayodashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:43 here. Dwadashi ended at 23:52 Tue, before it. Trayodashi ends at 23:15, when the lead reaches 156°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Jun, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Tue 17 Jun ran from sunset 18:37 Tue to sunrise 05:43, 11 h 6 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 44 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:43 to 18:38, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 36 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:38 to 05:43 Thu, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 23 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′. Vishakha spans 200°00′–213°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 210°. It leaves at 11:31, for Anuradha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 63.2° + 210.1° = 273.3°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 266°40′–280°00′ is the 21st, Siddha. It ends at 17:00, then Sadhya.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Trayodashi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava runs until 11:39, when the lead reaches 150°; Taitila until 23:15.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:43 to 05:43 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: Vrishabha gives Jyeshtha. The Sun enters Mithuna on 14 Jun, inside the month. The next new moon, 4 Jul, finds it in Mithuna and begins Ashadha.

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 Jun, with the Sun in Vrishabha, began Jyeshtha. This Shukla paksha reads Jyeshtha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 7 Apr 1997, 12:01 Mon. Since then the Sun has moved 69.3° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2054; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1919.