Panchang in Diffa, Niger Wed 27 Jan 2010

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 17:42 on Wed 27 Jan to 14:33 on Thu 28 Jan, so only Wednesday’s pradosha (18:08–20:37) 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, 06:36 here. Ekadashi ended at 20:19 Tue, before it. Dwadashi ends at 17:42, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 15 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Tue 26 Jan ran from sunset 18:07 Tue to sunrise 06:36, 12 h 29 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 49 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:36 to 18:08, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 26 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:08 to 06:36 Thu, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 33 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′. Mrigashira spans 53°20′–66°40′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 60°. It leaves at 16:07, for Ardra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 283.2° + 60.9° = 344.1°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 333°20′–346°40′ is the 26th, Indra. It ends at 10:38, then Vaidhriti.

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 runs until 07:05, when the lead reaches 138°; Balava until 17:42.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:36 to 06:36 Thu, so the hours after midnight still belong to Budhawara.

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 12 Feb, inside the month. The next new moon, 14 Feb, 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 15 Jan, with the Sun in Makara, began Magha. This Shukla paksha reads Magha 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 301.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2066; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1931.