Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 16 Mar 2008

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 108°–120° is the 10th, Shukla Dashami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:16 here. Navami ended at 21:12 Sat, before it. Dashami ends at 19:58, when the lead reaches 120°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 7 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sat 15 Mar ran from sunset 18:20 Sat to sunrise 06:16, 11 h 56 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 47 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:16 to 18:20, 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 night here, 18:20 to 06:15 Mon, 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 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 2 at 83°20′. It leaves at 21:16, for Pushya.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 332° + 84.8° = 416.8°, one full turn and 56.8°. 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 22:24, then Atiganda.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dashami is Taitila and the second Garaja. Taitila runs until 08:32, when the lead reaches 114°; Garaja until 19:58.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:16 to 06:15 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: Kumbha gives Phalguna. The Sun enters Meena on 14 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 6 Apr, finds it in Meena and begins Chaitra.

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, began Phalguna. This Shukla paksha reads Phalguna 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 357.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2064; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1929.