Panchang in Diffa, Niger Sun 20 Mar 2016

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 07:02 on Sun 20 Mar to 08:41 on Mon 21 Mar, so only Sunday’s pradosha (18:20–20:42) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 132°–144° is the 12th, Shukla Dwadashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:13 here. Ekadashi ended at 05:49 Sat, before it. Dwadashi ends at 07:02, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 9 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Dwadashi began at 05:49 Sat, before sunrise at 06:14 Sat, and ends at 07:02, after the next sunrise at 06:13. Both days read Dwadashi: it is a vriddhi tithi here.

The night of Sat 19 Mar ran from sunset 18:20 Sat to sunrise 06:13, 11 h 53 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 47 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:13 to 18:20, 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 night here, 18:20 to 06:12 Mon, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Ashlesha spans 106°40′–120°00′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 116°40′. It leaves at 07:04, for Magha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 335.9° + 119.6° = 455.5°, one full turn and 95.5°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 93°20′–106°40′ is the 8th, Dhriti. It ends at 02:27 Mon, then Shula.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Dwadashi is Bava and the second Balava. Bava ended at 18:22 Sat, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 07:02.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:13 to 06:12 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: Kumbha gives Phalguna. The Sun enters Meena on 14 Mar, inside the month. The next new moon, 7 Apr, finds it in Meena and begins Chaitra.

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 9 Mar, with the Sun in Kumbha, began Phalguna. This Shukla paksha reads Phalguna in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 20 Mar 2015, 10:36 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 360.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2072; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1937.