Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 17 Aug 2014

Krishna’s birth is celebrated at nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Ashtami runs from 01:26 on Sun 17 Aug to 01:36 on Mon 18 Aug, so only Sunday night’s nishitha (23:50–00:36 Mon) falls within it. Every reading takes that day.

Janmashtami: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 264°–276° is the 23rd, Krishna Ashtami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:57 here. Saptami ended at 01:26, before it. Ashtami ends at 01:36 Mon, when the lead reaches 276°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 10 Aug, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise.

New Delhi · IST

Sunrise here, 05:51, came before Saptami ended at 05:56: this day reads Saptami.

Diffa · UTC+1

Sunrise here, 05:57, came after Saptami ended at 01:26: this day reads Ashtami.

The night of Sat 16 Aug ran from sunset 18:30 Sat to sunrise 05:57, 11 h 27 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 45 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:57 to 18:29, 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 night here, 18:29 to 05:57 Mon, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Bharani spans 13°20′–26°40′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 23°20′. It leaves at 06:22, for Krittika.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 120.2° + 26.4° = 146.6°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 133°20′–146°40′ is the 11th, Vriddhi. It ends at 06:03, then Dhruva.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Ashtami is Balava and the second Kaulava. Balava runs until 13:25, when the lead reaches 270°; Kaulava until 01:36 Mon.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:57 to 05:57 Mon, so the hours after midnight still belong to Raviwara.

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: Karka gives Shravana. The Sun enters Simha on 17 Aug, inside the month. The next new moon, 25 Aug, finds it in Simha and begins Bhadrapada.

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 25 Aug, with the Sun in Simha, begins Bhadrapada. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Bhadrapada here, and Shravana in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 30 Mar 2014, 19:44 Sun. Since then the Sun has moved 134.3° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2071; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1936.