Panchang in Pāthardi, Maharashtra Sat 28 Jan 2012

Saraswati Puja is done in purvahna, the first half of the day. Panchami runs from 13:47 on Fri 27 Jan to 15:30 on Sat 28 Jan, so only Saturday’s purvahna (07:04–12:42) falls within it. No text giving Vasant Panchami’s time was found; purvahna is Tithika’s convention.

Vasant Panchami: every date in Pāthardi

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 48°–60° is the 5th, Shukla Panchami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 07:04 here. Chaturthi ended at 13:47 Fri, before it. Panchami ends at 15:30, when the lead reaches 60°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 23 Jan, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Fri 27 Jan ran from sunset 18:18 Fri to sunrise 07:04, 12 h 46 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 51 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 07:04 to 18:19, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 24 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:19 to 07:04 Sun, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 35 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′. Uttara Bhadrapada spans 333°20′–346°40′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 336°40′. It leaves at 21:06, for Revati.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 283.5° + 339.6° = 623.1°, one full turn and 263.1°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 253°20′–266°40′ is the 20th, Shiva. It ends at 13:37, then Siddha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Panchami is Bava and the second Balava. Bava ended at 02:34, when the lead reached 54°; Balava runs until 15:30.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 07:04 to 07:04 Sun, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shaniwara.

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: Makara gives Magha. The Sun enters Kumbha on 13 Feb, inside the month. The next new moon, 22 Feb, finds it in Kumbha and begins Phalguna.

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 23 Jan, with the Sun in Makara, began Magha. This Shukla paksha reads Magha in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 3 Apr 2011, 20:02 Sun. Since then the Sun has moved 294° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2068; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1933.