Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 7 Oct 2010

The shraddha for all ancestors is done in aparahna, the fourth fifth of the day. Amavasya runs from 23:19 on Wed 6 Oct to 19:44 on Thu 7 Oct, so only Thursday’s aparahna (13:09–15:32) falls within it. No text giving Sarva Pitru Amavasya’s time was found; aparahna is Tithika’s convention.

Sarva Pitru Amavasya: every date in Diffa

Amavasya follows the tithi at sunrise. Amavasya runs from 23:19 on Wed 6 Oct to 19:44 on Thu 7 Oct, so it holds sunrise only on Thu 7 Oct, at 05:59. No text giving Amavasya’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Amavasya: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 348°–360° is the 30th, Krishna Amavasya. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:59 here. Chaturdashi ended at 23:19 Wed, before it. Amavasya ends at 19:44, when the lead reaches 360°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 23 Sep, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 6 Oct ran from sunset 17:56 Wed to sunrise 05:59, 12 h 3 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:59 to 17:55, 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 night here, 17:55 to 05:59 Fri, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Hasta spans 160°00′–173°20′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 160°. It leaves at 00:27 Fri, for Chitra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 169.8° + 161.7° = 331.5°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 320°00′–333°20′ is the 25th, Brahma. It ends at 08:37, then Indra.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Amavasya is Chatushpada and the second Nagava. Chatushpada runs until 09:30, when the lead reaches 354°; Nagava until 19:44.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:59 to 05:59 Fri, so the hours after midnight still belong to Guruwara.

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: Simha gives Bhadrapada. The Sun enters Kanya on 17 Sep, inside the month. The next new moon, 7 Oct, finds it in Kanya and begins Ashwina.

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 Oct, with the Sun in Kanya, begins Ashwina. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Ashwina here, and Bhadrapada in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 15 Mar 2010, 22:01 Mon. Since then the Sun has moved 198.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2067; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1932.