Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 7 Mar 2008

Amavasya follows the tithi at sunrise. Amavasya runs from 19:54 on Thu 6 Mar to 18:14 on Fri 7 Mar, so it holds sunrise only on Fri 7 Mar, at 06:22. No text giving Amavasya’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Amavasya: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 348°–360° is the 30th, Krishna Amavasya. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:22 here. Chaturdashi ended at 19:54 Thu, before it. Amavasya ends at 18:14, when the lead reaches 360°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 21 Feb, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Thu 6 Mar ran from sunset 18:19 Thu to sunrise 06:22, 12 h 3 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:22 to 18:19, 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, 18:19 to 06:21 Sat, 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′. Shatabhisha spans 306°40′–320°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 313°20′. It leaves at 12:10, for Purva Bhadrapada.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 323° + 316.6° = 639.6°, one full turn and 279.6°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 266°40′–280°00′ is the 21st, Siddha. It ends at 06:53, then Sadhya.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Amavasya is Chatushpada and the second Nagava. Chatushpada runs until 07:08, when the lead reaches 354°; Nagava until 18:14.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:22 to 06:21 Sat, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shukrawara.

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, 7 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 7 Mar, with the Sun in Kumbha, begins Phalguna. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Phalguna here, and Magha 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 348.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2064; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1929.