Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 17 Feb 2000

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 01:26 on Thu 17 Feb to 22:38 on Thu 17 Feb, so only Thursday’s pradosha (18:15–20:42) 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, 06:31 here. Dwadashi ended at 01:26, before it. Trayodashi ends at 22:38, when the lead reaches 156°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Feb, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 16 Feb ran from sunset 18:15 Wed to sunrise 06:31, 12 h 16 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 49 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:31 to 18:15, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 28 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:15 to 06:31 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 32 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′. Punarvasu spans 80°00′–93°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 90°. It leaves at 10:33, for Pushya.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 304° + 90.9° = 394.9°, one full turn and 34.9°. 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 14:24, then Saubhagya.

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 12:02, when the lead reaches 150°; Taitila until 22:38.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:31 to 06:31 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: Makara gives Magha. The Sun enters Kumbha on 13 Feb, inside the month. The next new moon, 6 Mar, finds it in Kumbha and begins Phalguna.

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 Feb, with the Sun in Makara, began Magha. This Shukla paksha reads Magha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 17 Mar 1999, 19:47 Wed. Since then the Sun has moved 331.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2056; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1921.