Panchang in Pāthardi, Maharashtra Thu 9 Aug 2012

Krishna’s birth is celebrated at nishitha, the midnight muhurta. Ashtami runs from 11:10 on Thu 9 Aug to 13:41 on Fri 10 Aug, so only Thursday night’s nishitha (00:12 Fri–00:56 Fri) falls within it.

Janmashtami: every date in Pāthardi

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 252°–264° is the 22nd, Krishna Saptami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:08 here. Shashthi ended at 08:57 Wed, before it. Saptami ends at 11:10, when the lead reaches 264°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 2 Aug, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 8 Aug ran from sunset 19:01 Wed to sunrise 06:08, 11 h 7 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 44 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:08 to 19:00, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 36 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:00 to 06:08 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 23 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′. Bharani spans 13°20′–26°40′; the Moon entered its pada 1 at 13°20′. It leaves at 06:46 Fri, for Krittika.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 112.8° + 14.5° = 127.3°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 120°00′–133°20′ is the 10th, Ganda. It ends at 17:24, then Vriddhi.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Saptami is Vishti and the second Bava. Vishti ended at 22:01 Wed, when the lead reached 258°; Bava runs until 11:10.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:08 to 06:08 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: Karka gives Shravana. The Sun enters Simha on 16 Aug, inside the month. The next new moon, 17 Aug, finds it in Simha and begins Bhadrapada.

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 17 Aug, with the Sun in Simha, begins Bhadrapada. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Bhadrapada here, and Shravana in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 22 Mar 2012, 20:07 Thu. Since then the Sun has moved 134.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2069; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1934.