Panchang in Diffa, Niger Mon 3 Feb 2014

Saraswati Puja is done in purvahna, the first half of the day. Panchami runs from 10:04 on Mon 3 Feb to 08:31 on Tue 4 Feb, touching purvahna on both mornings. The Nirnayasindhu takes the morning it holds more of: Mon 3 Feb. No text giving Vasant Panchami’s time was found; purvahna is Tithika’s convention.

Vasant Panchami: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 36°–48° is the 4th, Shukla Chaturthi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:35 here. Tritiya ended at 12:24 Sun, before it. Chaturthi ends at 10:04, when the lead reaches 48°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 30 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Sun 2 Feb ran from sunset 18:10 Sun to sunrise 06:35, 12 h 25 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 49 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:35 to 18:11, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 27 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:11 to 06:35 Tue, 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′. Uttara Bhadrapada spans 333°20′–346°40′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 333°20′. It leaves at 00:19 Tue, for Revati.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 290.2° + 336.3° = 626.5°, one full turn and 266.5°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 253°20′–266°40′ is the 20th, Shiva. It ends at 06:42, then Siddha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Chaturthi is Vanija and the second Vishti. Vanija ended at 23:08 Sun, when the lead reached 42°; Vishti runs until 10:04.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:35 to 06:35 Tue, so the hours after midnight still belong to Somawara.

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: Makara gives Magha. The Sun enters Kumbha on 12 Feb, inside the month. The next new moon, 1 Mar, finds it in Kumbha and begins Phalguna.

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 30 Jan, with the Sun in Makara, began Magha. This Shukla paksha reads Magha 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 293.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2070; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1935.