Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 16 Dec 2007

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 72°–84° is the 7th, Shukla Saptami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:24 here. Shashthi ended at 00:29, before it. Saptami ends at 23:50, when the lead reaches 84°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 9 Dec, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sat 15 Dec ran from sunset 17:45 Sat to sunrise 06:24, 12 h 39 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:24 to 17:45, 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, 17:45 to 06:25 Mon, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 35 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′. Shatabhisha spans 306°40′–320°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 313°20′. It leaves at 15:34, for Purva Bhadrapada.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 239.9° + 314.9° = 554.8°, one full turn and 194.8°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 186°40′–200°00′ is the 15th, Vajra. It ends at 15:06, then Siddhi.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Saptami is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja runs until 12:14, when the lead reaches 78°; Vanija until 23:50.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:24 to 06:25 Mon, so the hours after midnight still belong to Raviwara.

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: Vrishchika gives Margashirsha. The Sun enters Dhanu on 16 Dec, inside the month. The next new moon, 8 Jan, finds it in Dhanu and begins Pausha.

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, began Margashirsha. This Shukla paksha reads Margashirsha in both counts.

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 265.7° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2064; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1929.