Panchang in Maclear, Eastern Cape, South Africa Sun 21 Dec 2025

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 0°–12° is the 1st, Shukla Pratipada. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 04:59 here. Amavasya ended at 03:43 Sat, before it. Pratipada ends at 05:41, when the lead reaches 12°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 20 Dec, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Pratipada began at 03:43 Sat, before sunrise at 04:58 Sat, and ends at 05:41, after the next sunrise at 04:59. Both days read Pratipada: it is a vriddhi tithi here.

The night of Sat 20 Dec ran from sunset 19:09 Sat to sunrise 04:59, 9 h 50 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 39 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 04:59 to 19:09, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 46 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:09 to 04:59 Mon, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 13 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′. Purva Ashadha spans 253°20′–266°40′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 256°40′. It leaves at 00:06 Mon, for Uttara Ashadha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 245.3° + 256.9° = 502.2°, one full turn and 142.2°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 133°20′–146°40′ is the 11th, Vriddhi. It ends at 13:05, then Dhruva.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Pratipada is Kinstughna and the second Bava. Kinstughna ended at 16:44 Sat, when the lead reached 6°; Bava runs until 05:41.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 04:59 to 04:59 Mon, so the hours after midnight still belong to Raviwara.

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, 18 Jan, 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 20 Dec, 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: 29 Mar 2025, 12:57 Sat. Since then the Sun has moved 260.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2082; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1947.