Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 28 Oct 2016

Shiva’s worship centres on nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Chaturdashi runs from 13:50 on Fri 28 Oct to 16:10 on Sat 29 Oct, so only Friday night’s nishitha (23:28–00:18 Sat) falls within it. No text giving Masik Shivratri’s time was found; nishitha is Tithika’s convention.

Masik Shivratri: every date in Diffa

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 324°–336° is the 28th, Krishna Trayodashi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:02 here. Dwadashi ended at 11:45 Thu, before it. Trayodashi ends at 13:50, when the lead reaches 336°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 16 Oct, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Thu 27 Oct ran from sunset 17:44 Thu to sunrise 06:02, 12 h 18 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 49 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:02 to 17:43, 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, 17:43 to 06:02 Sat, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 32 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′. Hasta spans 160°00′–173°20′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 163°20′. It leaves at 01:40 Sat, for Chitra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 191.1° + 163.5° = 354.6°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 346°40′–360°00′ is the 27th, Vaidhriti. It ends at 15:55, then Vishkambha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Trayodashi is Garaja and the second Vanija. Garaja ended at 00:46, when the lead reached 330°; Vanija runs until 13:50.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:02 to 06:02 Sat, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shukrawara.

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: Kanya gives Ashwina. The Sun enters Tula on 17 Oct, inside the month. The next new moon, 30 Oct, finds it in Tula and begins Kartika.

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 Oct, with the Sun in Tula, begins Kartika. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Kartika here, and Ashwina in the amanta count.

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 197.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2073; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1938.