Panchang in Diffa, Niger Tue 14 Jan 2014

The Sun enters Makara at 08:42, between sunrise (06:36) and sunset (18:01). The Dharmasindhu’s punya kala is the 40 ghatis after the ingress, so the bath and gifts fall that day: Tue 14 Jan.

Makar Sankranti: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 156°–168° is the 14th, Shukla Chaturdashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:36 here. Trayodashi ended at 00:51, before it. Chaturdashi ends at 03:20 Wed, when the lead reaches 168°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 1 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Mon 13 Jan ran from sunset 18:00 Mon to sunrise 06:36, 12 h 36 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:36 to 18:01, 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, 18:01 to 06:36 Wed, 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′. Ardra spans 66°40′–80°00′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 66°40′. It leaves at 05:47 Wed, for Punarvasu.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 269.9° + 68.5° = 338.4°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 333°20′–346°40′ is the 26th, Indra. It ends at 21:55, then Vaidhriti.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Chaturdashi is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja runs until 14:05, when the lead reaches 162°; Vanija until 03:20 Wed.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:36 to 06:36 Wed, so the hours after midnight still belong to Mangalawara.

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, 30 Jan, 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 1 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: 10 Apr 2013, 10:35 Wed. Since then the Sun has moved 273.3° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2070; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1935.