Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sat 14 May 2011

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 21:41 on Sat 14 May to 18:24 on Sun 15 May, between the two evenings’ pradosha, touching neither. The Nirnayasindhu then takes the earlier day: Sat 14 May. 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, 05:44 here. Ekadashi ended at 00:53, before it. Dwadashi ends at 21:41, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 3 May, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Fri 13 May ran from sunset 18:27 Fri to sunrise 05:44, 11 h 17 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 45 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:44 to 18:27, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 35 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:27 to 05:43 Sun, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 24 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 2 at 163°20′. It leaves at 21:06, for Chitra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 29.1° + 163.8° = 192.9°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 186°40′–200°00′ is the 15th, Vajra. It ends at 16:33, then Siddhi.

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 11:18, when the lead reaches 138°; Balava until 21:41.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:44 to 05:43 Sun, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shaniwara.

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: Mesha gives Vaishakha. The Sun enters Vrishabha on 15 May, inside the month. The next new moon, 1 Jun, finds it in Vrishabha and begins Jyeshtha.

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 May, with the Sun in Mesha, began Vaishakha. This Shukla paksha reads Vaishakha 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 39.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.