Panchang in Diffa, Niger Thu 19 Sep 2013

The first shraddha of Pitru Paksha is done in aparahna, the fourth fifth of the day. Pratipada runs from 12:12 on Thu 19 Sep to 10:45 on Fri 20 Sep, so only Thursday’s aparahna (13:16–15:41) falls within it. No text giving Pitru Paksha begins’s time was found; aparahna is Tithika’s convention.

Pitru Paksha begins: every date in Diffa

Purnima follows the tithi at sunrise. Purnima runs from 14:09 on Wed 18 Sep to 12:12 on Thu 19 Sep, so it holds sunrise only on Thu 19 Sep, at 05:58. No text giving Purnima’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Purnima: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 168°–180° is the 15th, Shukla Purnima. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:58 here. Chaturdashi ended at 14:09 Wed, before it. Purnima ends at 12:12, when the lead reaches 180°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Sep, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 18 Sep ran from sunset 18:08 Wed to sunrise 05:58, 11 h 50 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 47 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:58 to 18:07, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 31 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:07 to 05:58 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 28 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′. Purva Bhadrapada spans 320°00′–333°20′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 326°40′. It leaves at 13:25, for Uttara Bhadrapada.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 152.4° + 329° = 481.4°, one full turn and 121.4°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 120°00′–133°20′ is the 10th, Ganda. It ends at 01:19 Fri, then Vriddhi.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Purnima is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti ended at 01:08, when the lead reached 174°; Bava runs until 12:12.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:58 to 05:58 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: Simha gives Bhadrapada. The Sun enters Kanya on 16 Sep, inside the month. The next new moon, 5 Oct, finds it in Kanya and begins Ashwina.

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 5 Sep, with the Sun in Simha, began Bhadrapada. This Shukla paksha reads Bhadrapada in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 10 Apr 2013, 10:35 Wed. Since then the Sun has moved 155.8° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2070; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1935.