Panchang in Progress, Amur Oblast, Russia Thu 19 Oct 2017

Lakshmi Puja is done in pradosha, the 3 muhurtas after sunset. Amavasya runs from 03:43 on Thu 19 Oct to 04:12 on Fri 20 Oct, so only Thursday’s pradosha (17:23–20:04) falls within it. Every reading takes that day.

Lakshmi Puja muhurat: pradosha, 17:23–20:04. Within it Vrishabha, a fixed (sthira) lagna, rises in the east from 18:21 to 20:00.

Diwali: every date in Progress

Amavasya follows the tithi at sunrise. Amavasya runs from 03:43 on Thu 19 Oct to 04:12 on Fri 20 Oct, so it holds sunrise only on Thu 19 Oct, at 06:48. No text giving Amavasya’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Amavasya: every date in Progress

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 348°–360° is the 30th, Krishna Amavasya. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:48 here. Chaturdashi ended at 03:43, before it. Amavasya ends at 04:12 Fri, when the lead reaches 360°. The lead passed 180° at the full moon of 6 Oct, so the Moon is waning: Krishna paksha.

The night of Wed 18 Oct ran from sunset 17:25 Wed to sunrise 06:48, 13 h 23 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 53 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:48 to 17:23, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 19 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 17:23 to 06:50 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 40 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′. Hasta spans 160°00′–173°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 170°. It leaves at 10:56, for Chitra.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 181.6° + 171.1° = 352.7°. The sum, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, gives the yoga: 346°40′–360°00′ is the 27th, Vaidhriti. It ends at 19:28, then Vishkambha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Amavasya is Chatushpada and the second Nagava. Chatushpada runs until 15:54, when the lead reaches 354°; Nagava until 04:12 Fri.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:48 to 06:50 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: Kanya gives Ashwina. The Sun enters Tula on 17 Oct, inside the month. The next new moon, 20 Oct, finds it in Tula and begins Kartika.

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 Oct, with the Sun in Tula, begins Kartika. Until then this Krishna paksha reads Kartika here, and Ashwina in the amanta count.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 28 Mar 2017, 11:57 Tue. Since then the Sun has moved 198.1° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2074; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1939.