Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 17 Aug 2012

Amavasya follows the tithi at sunrise. Amavasya runs from 17:34 on Thu 16 Aug to 16:54 on Fri 17 Aug, so it holds sunrise only on Fri 17 Aug, at 05:57. No text giving Amavasya’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Amavasya: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 348°–360° is the 30th, Krishna Amavasya. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:57 here. Chaturdashi ended at 17:34 Thu, before it. Amavasya ends at 16:54, when the lead reaches 360°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 2 Aug, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Thu 16 Aug ran from sunset 18:30 Thu to sunrise 05:57, 11 h 27 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 45 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:57 to 18:29, 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 night here, 18:29 to 05:57 Sat, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 26 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′. Ashlesha spans 106°40′–120°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 113°20′. It leaves at 14:56, for Magha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 120.7° + 115° = 235.7°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 226°40′–240°00′ is the 18th, Variyana. It ends at 13:14, then Parigha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Amavasya is Chatushpada and the second Nagava. Chatushpada ended at 05:18, when the lead reached 354°; Nagava runs until 16:54.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:57 to 05:57 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: Karka gives Shravana. The Sun enters Simha on 16 Aug, inside the month. The next new moon, 17 Aug, finds it in Simha and begins Bhadrapada.

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 17 Aug, with the Sun in Simha, begins Bhadrapada. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Bhadrapada here, and Shravana in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 22 Mar 2012, 15:37 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 142.4° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.