Panchang in Diffa, Niger Mon 4 Apr 2011

Ghatasthapana is done in pratahkala, the first fifth of the day. Pratipada runs from 15:32 on Sun 3 Apr to 17:53 on Mon 4 Apr, so only Monday’s pratahkala (06:04–08:31) falls within it. No text giving Chaitra Navratri · Ghatasthapana’s time was found; pratahkala is Tithika’s convention.

Chaitra Navratri: every date in Diffa

Vikram Samvat 2068 begins on the day Chaitra Shukla Pratipada holds sunrise: Mon 4 Apr, at 06:04. Pratipada lasts until 17:53.

Nav Samvatsar: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 0°–12° is the 1st, Shukla Pratipada. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:04 here. Amavasya ended at 15:32 Sun, before it. Pratipada ends at 17:53, when the lead reaches 12°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 3 Apr, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sun 3 Apr ran from sunset 18:21 Sun to sunrise 06:04, 11 h 43 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:04 to 18:21, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 32 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:21 to 06:03 Tue, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 27 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′. Revati spans 346°40′–360°00′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 356°40′. It leaves at 12:44, for Ashwini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 350.1° + 356.7° = 706.8°, one full turn and 346.8°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 346°40′–360°00′ is the 27th, Vaidhriti. It ends at 06:39 Tue, then Vishkambha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Pratipada is Kinstughna and the second Bava. Kinstughna ended at 04:43, when the lead reached 6°; Bava runs until 17:53.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:04 to 06:03 Tue, so the hours after midnight still belong to Somawara.

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: Meena gives Chaitra. The Sun enters Mesha on 14 Apr, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 May, finds it in Mesha and begins Vaishakha.

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 3 Apr, with the Sun in Meena, began Chaitra. This Shukla paksha reads Chaitra in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 3 Apr 2011, 15:32 Sun. Since then the Sun has moved 0.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.