Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sat 12 Oct 2013

Durga Ashtami follows the tithi at sunrise. Ashtami runs from 13:08 on Fri 11 Oct to 10:56 on Sat 12 Oct, so it holds sunrise only on Sat 12 Oct, at 05:59. No text giving Durga Ashtami’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Durga Ashtami: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 84°–96° is the 8th, Shukla Ashtami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:59 here. Saptami ended at 13:08 Fri, before it. Ashtami ends at 10:56, when the lead reaches 96°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 5 Oct, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Fri 11 Oct ran from sunset 17:52 Fri to sunrise 05:59, 12 h 7 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:59 to 17:52, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 29 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:52 to 05:59 Sun, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 30 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′. Uttara Ashadha spans 266°40′–280°00′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 266°40′. It leaves at 01:51 Sun, for Shravana.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 175° + 268.3° = 443.3°, one full turn and 83.3°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 80°00′–93°20′ is the 7th, Sukarma. It ends at 21:56, then Dhriti.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Ashtami is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti ended at 00:02, when the lead reached 90°; Bava runs until 10:56.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:59 to 05:59 Sun, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shaniwara.

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: Kanya gives Ashwina. The Sun enters Tula on 17 Oct, inside the month. The next new moon, 3 Nov, finds it in Tula and begins Kartika.

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 Oct, with the Sun in Kanya, began Ashwina. This Shukla paksha reads Ashwina 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 178.4° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2070; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1935.