Panchang in Diffa, Niger Tue 6 May 2008

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 0°–12° is the 1st, Shukla Pratipada. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:46 here. Amavasya ended at 13:18 Mon, before it. Pratipada ends at 09:26, when the lead reaches 12°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 May, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Dwitiya began at 09:26 and ended at 05:37 Wed, between the sunrises of 05:46 and 05:46 Wed. Tuesday reads Pratipada and Wednesday reads Tritiya: Dwitiya is a kshaya tithi here.

The night of Mon 5 May ran from sunset 18:25 Mon to sunrise 05:46, 11 h 21 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 45 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:46 to 18:26, 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 night here, 18:26 to 05:46 Wed, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Krittika spans 26°40′–40°00′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 30°. It leaves at 18:32, for Rohini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 22.1° + 31.9° = 54°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 53°20′–66°40′ is the 5th, Shobhana. It ends at 00:36 Wed, then Atiganda.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Pratipada is Kinstughna and the second Bava. Kinstughna ended at 23:22 Mon, when the lead reached 6°; Bava runs until 09:26.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:46 to 05:46 Wed, so the hours after midnight still belong to Mangalawara.

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: Mesha gives Vaishakha. The Sun enters Vrishabha on 14 May, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 Jun, finds it in Vrishabha and begins Jyeshtha.

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 May, with the Sun in Mesha, began Vaishakha. This Shukla paksha reads Vaishakha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 6 Apr 2008, 04:55 Sun. Since then the Sun has moved 29.3° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2065; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1930.