Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 18 May 2008

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 156°–168° is the 14th, Shukla Chaturdashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:43 here. Trayodashi ended at 22:39 Sat, before it. Chaturdashi ends at 00:51 Mon, when the lead reaches 168°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 May, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sat 17 May ran from sunset 18:28 Sat to sunrise 05:43, 11 h 15 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 45 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:43 to 18:29, 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, 18:29 to 05:42 Mon, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 24 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 20:00, for Vishakha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 33.6° + 192.9° = 226.5°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 213°20′–226°40′ is the 17th, Vyatipata. It ends at 05:58, then Variyana.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Chaturdashi is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja runs until 11:44, when the lead reaches 162°; Vanija until 00:51 Mon.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:43 to 05:42 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: 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 40.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2065; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1930.