Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 29 Dec 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, 06:30 here. Chaturthi ended at 14:23 Wed, before it. Panchami ends at 14:56, when the lead reaches 60°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 24 Dec, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 28 Dec ran from sunset 17:51 Wed to sunrise 06:30, 12 h 39 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:30 to 17:52, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 25 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:52 to 06:31 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 34 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′. Shatabhisha spans 306°40′–320°00′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 306°40′. It leaves at 03:29 Fri, for Purva Bhadrapada.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 253.1° + 309° = 562.1°, one full turn and 202.1°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 200°00′–213°20′ is the 16th, Siddhi. It ends at 02:18 Fri, then Vyatipata.

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 02:34, when the lead reached 54°; Balava runs until 14:56.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:30 to 06:31 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: Dhanu gives Pausha. The Sun enters Makara on 14 Jan, inside the month. The next new moon, 23 Jan, finds it in Makara and begins Magha.

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 24 Dec, with the Sun in Dhanu, began Pausha. This Shukla paksha reads Pausha 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 263.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.