Panchang in Sevan, Gegharkunik, Armenia Thu 28 Mar 1996

Rama’s birth is celebrated at madhyahna, the middle fifth of the day. Navami runs from 18:43 on Wed 27 Mar to 21:10 on Thu 28 Mar, so only Thursday’s madhyahna (11:50–14:20) falls within it. Every reading takes that day.

Rama Navami: every date in Sevan

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 96°–108° is the 9th, Shukla Navami. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:50 here. Ashtami ended at 18:43 Wed, before it. Navami ends at 21:10, when the lead reaches 108°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 19 Mar, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

The night of Wed 27 Mar ran from sunset 19:19 Wed to sunrise 06:50, 11 h 31 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 46 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:50 to 19:20, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 33 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 19:20 to 06:48 Fri, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 26 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′. Punarvasu spans 80°00′–93°20′; the Moon entered its pada 2 at 83°20′. It leaves at 22:50, for Pushya.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 343.9° + 85.4° = 429.3°, one full turn and 69.3°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 66°40′–80°00′ is the 6th, Atiganda. It ends at 02:45 Fri, then Sukarma.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Navami is Balava and the second Kaulava. Balava runs until 07:56, when the lead reaches 102°; Kaulava until 21:10.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:50 to 06:48 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: Meena gives Chaitra. The Sun enters Mesha on 13 Apr, inside the month. The next new moon, 18 Apr, finds it in Mesha and begins Vaishakha.

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 19 Mar, with the Sun in Meena, began Chaitra. This Shukla paksha reads Chaitra in both counts.

A samvat year begins with Chaitra, the month whose new moon finds the Sun in Meena: 19 Mar 1996, 14:44 Tue. Since then the Sun has moved 8.6° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2053; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1918.