Panchang in Sevan, Gegharkunik, Armenia Sat 29 Sep 1979

Durga Ashtami follows the tithi at sunrise. Ashtami runs from 20:48 on Fri 28 Sep to 19:41 on Sat 29 Sep, so it holds sunrise only on Sat 29 Sep, at 06:53. No text giving Durga Ashtami’s time was found; sunrise is Tithika’s convention.

Durga Ashtami: every date in Sevan

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, 06:53 here. Saptami ended at 20:48 Fri, before it. Ashtami ends at 19:41, when the lead reaches 96°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 21 Sep, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Fri 28 Sep ran from sunset 18:48 Fri to sunrise 06:53, 12 h 5 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 48 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:53 to 18:46, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 29 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:46 to 06:54 Sun, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 31 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′. Mula spans 240°00′–253°20′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 250°. It leaves at 10:55, for Purva Ashadha.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 161.8° + 251.1° = 412.9°, one full turn and 52.9°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 40°00′–53°20′ is the 4th, Saubhagya. It ends at 07:40, then Shobhana.

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 08:19, when the lead reaches 90°; Bava until 19:41.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:53 to 06:54 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: Kanya gives Ashwina. The Sun enters Tula on 17 Oct, inside the month. The next new moon, 21 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 21 Sep, with the Sun in Kanya, began Ashwina. This Shukla paksha reads Ashwina in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 28 Mar 1979, 06:59 Wed. Since then the Sun has moved 178.5° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2036; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1901.