Panchang in Maclear, Eastern Cape, South Africa Thu 17 Dec 2026

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 84°–96° is the 8th, Shukla Ashtami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 04:57 here. Saptami ended at 19:16 Wed, before it. Ashtami ends at 19:56, when the lead reaches 96°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 9 Dec, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 16 Dec ran from sunset 19:06 Wed to sunrise 04:57, 9 h 51 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 39 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 04:57 to 19:07, 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, 19:07 to 04:57 Fri, 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 Bhadrapada spans 320°00′–333°20′; the Moon entered its pada 3 at 326°40′. It leaves at 12:00, for Uttara Bhadrapada.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 240.9° + 329.6° = 570.5°, one full turn and 210.5°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 200°00′–213°20′ is the 16th, Siddhi. It ends at 09:51, then Vyatipata.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Ashtami is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti runs until 07:42, when the lead reaches 90°; Bava until 19:56.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 04:57 to 04:57 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: Vrishchika gives Margashirsha. The Sun enters Dhanu on 16 Dec, inside the month. The next new moon, 7 Jan, finds it in Dhanu and begins Pausha.

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 9 Dec, with the Sun in Vrishchika, began Margashirsha. This Shukla paksha reads Margashirsha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 19 Mar 2026, 03:23 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 266.7° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2083; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1948.