Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 29 Nov 2009

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 14:08 on Sun 29 Nov to 12:50 on Mon 30 Nov, so only Sunday’s pradosha (17:40–20:11) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 132°–144° is the 12th, Shukla Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:15 here. Ekadashi ended at 14:43 Sat, before it. Dwadashi ends at 14:08, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 16 Nov, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sat 28 Nov ran from sunset 17:40 Sat to sunrise 06:15, 12 h 35 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:15 to 17:40, 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, 17:40 to 06:16 Mon, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 34 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′. Ashwini spans 0°00′–13°20′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 0°. It leaves at 00:31 Mon, for Bharani.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 223.1° + 3° = 226.1°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 213°20′–226°40′ is the 17th, Vyatipata. It ends at 07:07, then Variyana.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dwadashi is Bava and the second Balava. Bava ended at 02:32, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 14:08.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:15 to 06:16 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 15 Dec, inside the month. The next new moon, 16 Dec, 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 16 Nov, 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: 26 Mar 2009, 17:05 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 241° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2066; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1931.