Panchang in Diffa, Niger Fri 18 Jan 2019

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 15:52 on Fri 18 Jan to 13:04 on Sat 19 Jan, so only Friday’s pradosha (18:03–20:34) 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, 06:36 here. Ekadashi ended at 18:04 Thu, before it. Dwadashi ends at 15:52, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 6 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Thu 17 Jan ran from sunset 18:02 Thu to sunrise 06:36, 12 h 34 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 50 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:36 to 18:03, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 25 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:03 to 06:36 Sat, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Rohini spans 40°00′–53°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 50°. It leaves at 07:54, for Mrigashira.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 273.7° + 52.6° = 326.3°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 320°00′–333°20′ is the 25th, Brahma. It ends at 17:39, then Indra.

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 05:03, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 15:52.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:36 to 06:36 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: Dhanu gives Pausha. The Sun enters Makara on 14 Jan, inside the month. The next new moon, 4 Feb, finds it in Makara and begins Magha.

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 6 Jan, with the Sun in Dhanu, began Pausha. This Shukla paksha reads Pausha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 17 Mar 2018, 14:11 Sat. Since then the Sun has moved 300.9° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2075; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1940.