Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 9 Sep 2011

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 06:07 on Fri 9 Sep to 07:13 on Sat 10 Sep, so only Friday’s pradosha (18:15–20:36) 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, 05:58 here. Ekadashi ended at 05:24 Thu, before it. Dwadashi ends at 06:07, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 29 Aug, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Dwadashi began at 05:24 Thu, before sunrise at 05:58 Thu, and ends at 06:07, after the next sunrise at 05:58. Both days read Dwadashi: it is a vriddhi tithi here.

The night of Thu 8 Sep ran from sunset 18:16 Thu to sunrise 05:58, 11 h 42 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:58 to 18:15, 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, 18:15 to 05:58 Sat, 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′. Shravana spans 280°00′–293°20′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 283°20′. It leaves at 19:53, for Dhanishtha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 142.2° + 286.1° = 428.3°, one full turn and 68.3°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 66°40′–80°00′ is the 6th, Atiganda. It ends at 02:57 Sat, then Sukarma.

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 ended at 17:42 Thu, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 06:07.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:58 to 05:58 Sat, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shukrawara.

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, 27 Sep, 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 29 Aug, with the Sun in Simha, began Bhadrapada. This Shukla paksha reads Bhadrapada 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 152.7° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.