Panchang in Libode, Eastern Cape, South Africa Wed 28 Sep 2016

Shiva’s Pradosh puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Trayodashi runs from 22:03 on Tue 27 Sep to 23:02 on Wed 28 Sep, so only Wednesday’s pradosha (18:04–20:24) falls within it. No text giving Pradosh Vrat’s time was found; pradosha is Tithika’s convention.

Pradosh Vrat: every date in Libode

Shiva’s worship centres on nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Chaturdashi runs from 23:02 on Wed 28 Sep to 00:25 on Fri 30 Sep, holding as much of nishitha on both nights. The Nirnayasindhu then takes the earlier: Wed 28 Sep. No text giving Masik Shivratri’s time was found; nishitha is Tithika’s convention.

Masik Shivratri: every date in Libode

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, 05:45 here. Dwadashi ended at 22:03 Tue, before it. Trayodashi ends at 23:02, when the lead reaches 336°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 16 Sep, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Tue 27 Sep ran from sunset 18:03 Tue to sunrise 05:45, 11 h 42 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 05:45 to 18:04, 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 night here, 18:04 to 05:44 Thu, 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 fixed stars divide the Moon's path into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′, each in 4 padas of 3°20′. Magha spans 120°00′–133°20′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 126°40′. It leaves at 13:54, for Purva Phalguni.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 161.4° + 129.1° = 290.5°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 280°00′–293°20′ is the 22nd, Sadhya. It ends at 10:53, then Shubha.

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 runs until 10:29, when the lead reaches 330°; Vanija until 23:02.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 05:45 to 05:44 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: Simha gives Bhadrapada. The Sun enters Kanya on 16 Sep, inside the month. The next new moon, 1 Oct, finds it in Kanya and begins Ashwina.

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 1 Oct, with the Sun in Kanya, begins Ashwina. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Ashwina here, and Bhadrapada in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 7 Apr 2016, 13:23 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 167.4° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2073; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1938.