Panchang in Diffa, Niger Wed 13 Apr 2016

The Sun enters Mesha at 15:18, between sunrise (05:57) and sunset (18:22): Wed 13 Apr. No text giving Mesha Sankranti’s time was found; sankranti is Tithika’s convention.

Mesha Sankranti: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 72°–84° is the 7th, Shukla Saptami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 05:57 here. Shashthi ended at 18:11 Tue, before it. Saptami ends at 17:11, when the lead reaches 84°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 7 Apr, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Tue 12 Apr ran from sunset 18:22 Tue to sunrise 05:57, 11 h 35 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:57 to 18:22, 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 night here, 18:22 to 05:57 Thu, 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′. Ardra spans 66°40′–80°00′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 76°40′. It leaves at 09:51, for Punarvasu.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 359.6° + 77.8° = 437.4°, one full turn and 77.4°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 66°40′–80°00′ is the 6th, Atiganda. It ends at 10:13, then Sukarma.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Saptami is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja ended at 05:35, when the lead reached 78°; Vanija runs until 17:11.

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

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: Meena gives Chaitra. The Sun enters Mesha on 13 Apr, inside the month. The next new moon, 6 May, finds it in Mesha and begins Vaishakha.

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 7 Apr, with the Sun in Meena, began Chaitra. This Shukla paksha reads Chaitra in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 7 Apr 2016, 12:23 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 5.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2073; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1938.