Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 18 Jan 2013

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 72°–84° is the 7th, Shukla Saptami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:36 here. Shashthi ended at 10:47 Thu, before it. Saptami ends at 11:54, when the lead reaches 84°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 11 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Thu 17 Jan ran from sunset 18:03 Thu to sunrise 06:36, 12 h 33 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:36 to 18:03, 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, 18:03 to 06:36 Sat, 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′. Revati spans 346°40′–360°00′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 353°20′. It leaves at 14:53, for Ashwini.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 274.2° + 355.8° = 630°, one full turn and 270°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 266°40′–280°00′ is the 21st, Siddha. It ends at 00:40 Sat, then Sadhya.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Saptami is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja ended at 23:14 Thu, when the lead reached 78°; Vanija runs until 11:54.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:36 to 06:36 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: Dhanu gives Pausha. The Sun enters Makara on 14 Jan, inside the month. The next new moon, 10 Feb, 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 11 Jan, 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: 22 Mar 2012, 15:37 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 295.9° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.