Panchang in Libode, Eastern Cape, South Africa Thu 21 Jan 2016

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 05:50 on Thu 21 Jan to 04:44 on Fri 22 Jan, so only Thursday’s pradosha (19:10–21:12) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Libode

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, 05:19 here. Ekadashi ended at 07:13 Wed, before it. Dwadashi ends at 05:50, when the lead reaches 144°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 10 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Trayodashi began at 05:50 and ended at 04:44 Fri, between the sunrises of 05:19 and 05:20 Fri. Thursday reads Dwadashi and Friday reads Chaturdashi: Trayodashi is a kshaya tithi here.

The night of Wed 20 Jan ran from sunset 19:11 Wed to sunrise 05:19, 10 h 8 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 40 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:19 to 19:10, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 43 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:10 to 05:20 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 16 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′. Mrigashira spans 53°20′–66°40′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 60°. It leaves at 16:47, for Ardra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 276.4° + 60.1° = 336.5°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 333°20′–346°40′ is the 26th, Indra. It ends at 21:52, then Vaidhriti.

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 18:29 Wed, when the lead reached 138°; Balava runs until 05:50.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:19 to 05:20 Fri, so the hours after midnight still belong to Guruwara.

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, 8 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 10 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: 20 Mar 2015, 11:36 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 301° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2072; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1937.