Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 24 Jan 2013

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 00:13 on Thu 24 Jan to 02:28 on Fri 25 Jan, so only Thursday’s pradosha (18:06–20:36) 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: 144°–156° is the 13th, Shukla Trayodashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:36 here. Dwadashi ended at 00:13, before it. Trayodashi ends at 02:28 Fri, when the lead reaches 156°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 11 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 23 Jan ran from sunset 18:06 Wed to sunrise 06:36, 12 h 30 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:36 to 18:06, 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 night here, 18:06 to 06:36 Fri, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Ardra spans 66°40′–80°00′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 66°40′. It leaves at 08:02 Fri, for Punarvasu.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 280.4° + 67.3° = 347.7°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 346°40′–360°00′ is the 27th, Vaidhriti. It ends at 05:25 Fri, then Vishkambha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Trayodashi is Kaulava and the second Taitila. Kaulava runs until 13:24, when the lead reaches 150°; Taitila until 02:28 Fri.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:36 to 06:36 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, 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 302.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.