Panchang in Thazhecode, Kerala Fri 12 Feb 2016

Saraswati Puja is done in purvahna, the first half of the day. Panchami runs from 09:17 on Fri 12 Feb to 06:40 on Sat 13 Feb, so it touches only Friday’s purvahna (06:48–12:40). No text giving Vasant Panchami’s time was found; purvahna is Tithika’s convention.

Vasant Panchami: every date in Thazhecode

The Moon gains on the Sun about 12° a day. Each 12° of lead is one tithi: 36°–48° is the 4th, Shukla Chaturthi. A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise, 06:48 here. Tritiya ended at 12:03 Thu, before it. Chaturthi ends at 09:17, when the lead reaches 48°. The lead passed 0° at the new moon of 8 Feb, so the Moon is waxing: Shukla paksha.

A day takes the tithi in force at its sunrise. Panchami began at 09:17 and ended at 06:40 Sat, between the sunrises of 06:48 and 06:47 Sat. Friday reads Chaturthi and Saturday reads Shashthi: Panchami is a kshaya tithi here.

The night of Thu 11 Feb ran from sunset 18:32 Thu to sunrise 06:48, 12 h 16 m. Cut into 15 muhurtas of 49 m, its 14th is Brahma Muhurta, the one before the last.

Daylight here, 06:48 to 18:32, splits into 8 choghadiyas of 1 h 28 m. Their names follow a fixed order that starts from the weekday, and each name is counted good, neutral or bad.

The night here, 18:32 to 06:47 Sat, 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′. Uttara Bhadrapada spans 333°20′–346°40′; the Moon entered its pada 4 at 343°20′. It leaves at 09:06, for Revati.

Add the Sun's and the Moon's places among the stars: 298.7° + 345.3° = 644°, one full turn and 284°. Past the turn, cut into 27 parts of 13°20′, it gives the yoga: 280°00′–293°20′ is the 22nd, Sadhya. It ends at 21:19, then Shubha.

A karana is half a tithi: 6° of the Moon's lead, so the first half of Chaturthi is Vanija and the second Vishti. Vanija ended at 22:39 Thu, when the lead reached 42°; Vishti runs until 09:17.

A Hindu day runs from one sunrise to the next, not midnight to midnight. This one runs 06:48 to 06:47 Sat, so the hours after midnight still belong to Shukrawara.

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, 9 Mar, 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 8 Feb, 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: 20 Mar 2015, 15:06 Fri. Since then the Sun has moved 323.3° round the stars. Vikram Samvat numbers that year 2072; Shaka Samvat numbers it 1937.