Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 10 Mar 2011

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 48°–60° is the 5th, Shukla Panchami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:20 here. Chaturthi ended at 07:36 Wed, before it. Panchami ends at 09:42, when the lead reaches 60°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 4 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 9 Mar ran from sunset 18:19 Wed to sunrise 06:20, 12 h 1 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:20 to 18:19, 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, 18:19 to 06:19 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′. Bharani spans 13°20′–26°40′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 23°20′. It leaves at 12:12, for Krittika.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 325.3° + 23.7° = 349°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 346°40′–360°00′ is the 27th, Vaidhriti. It ends at 02:25 Fri, then Vishkambha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Panchami is Bava and the second Balava. Bava ended at 20:42 Wed, when the lead reached 54°; Balava runs until 09:42.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:20 to 06:19 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: Kumbha gives Phalguna. The Sun enters Meena on 15 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 Apr, finds it in Meena and begins Chaitra.

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 4 Mar, with the Sun in Kumbha, began Phalguna. This Shukla paksha reads Phalguna in both counts.

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 354.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2067; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1932.