Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 6 Dec 2007

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 11:34 on Thu 6 Dec to 14:07 on Fri 7 Dec, so only Thursday’s pradosha (17:41–20:13) 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: 312°–324° is the 27th, Krishna Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:19 here. Ekadashi ended at 08:56 Wed, before it. Dwadashi ends at 11:34, when the lead reaches 324°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 24 Nov, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 5 Dec ran from sunset 17:41 Wed to sunrise 06:19, 12 h 38 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:19 to 17:41, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 25 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:41 to 06:19 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 34 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′. Swati spans 186°40′–200°00′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 190°. It leaves at 23:50, for Vishakha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 229.7° + 191.4° = 421.1°, one full turn and 61.1°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 53°20′–66°40′ is the 5th, Shobhana. It ends at 16:45, then Atiganda.

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 22:15 Wed, when the lead reached 318°; Taitila runs until 11:34.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:19 to 06:19 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: Tula gives Kartika. The Sun enters Vrishchika on 16 Nov, inside the month. The next new moon, 9 Dec, finds it in Vrishchika and begins Margashirsha.

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 9 Dec, with the Sun in Vrishchika, begins Margashirsha. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Margashirsha here, and Kartika in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 19 Mar 2007, 03:42 Mon. Since then the Sun has moved 255.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2064; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1929.