Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 23 Aug 2012

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 60°–72° is the 6th, Shukla Shashthi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:57 here. Panchami ended at 08:13 Wed, before it. Shashthi ends at 06:04, when the lead reaches 72°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 17 Aug, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Saptami began at 06:04 and ended at 03:56 Fri, between the sunrises of 05:57 and 05:57 Fri. Thursday reads Shashthi and Friday reads Ashtami: Saptami is a kshaya tithi here.

The night of Wed 22 Aug ran from sunset 18:26 Wed to sunrise 05:57, 11 h 31 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:57 to 18:26, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 33 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:26 to 05:57 Fri, 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′. Swati spans 186°40′–200°00′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 196°40′. It leaves at 08:43, for Vishakha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 126.4° + 198.4° = 324.8°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 320°00′–333°20′ is the 25th, Brahma. It ends at 19:30, then Indra.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Shashthi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava ended at 19:09 Wed, when the lead reached 66°; Taitila runs until 06:04.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:57 to 05:57 Fri, so the hours after midnight still belong to Guruwara.

A month normally holds one sankranti, the Sun's entry into a new rashi. From 17 Aug 16:54 Fri to 16 Sep 03:10 Sun the Sun stayed in Simha, entering Kanya at 16 Sep 13:24 Sun, after the new moon. A month with no sankranti is Adhika Bhadrapada, before Bhadrapada itself.

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, began Bhadrapada (Adhik). This Shukla paksha reads Bhadrapada (Adhik) in both counts.

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 148.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.