[Advaita-l] Pradosham date: April 2018, California

[Anand Hudli]

On Fri, Apr 27, 2018 at 7:07 AM, S Jayanarayanan via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>>
One note about Pradosham dates (in California) from DrikPanchang.com:
There is a minimum interval of 14 days between two consecutive Pradoshams
(verified for three years: 2017-19).

But DatePanchang.com has only a 13 day gap between the two Pradoshams of
April 13 & 26 (2018).
And HimalayanAcademy.com too has a 13 day between the two Pradoshams of June
11 & 24 (2018).

I cannot recall how it was in the Chennai temple(s) when I grew up, but I
believe that a 2 week interval was minimal.

>>

That is usually true but not always, considering that tithi duration
depends on the moon's motion, which is nonuniform. The duration of a tithi
can vary from about 19 hours to about 26 hours. Given this, it is not
always the case that two consecutive pradoShas will be apart by at least
14 days. In fact, if you look at the pradoSha dates at drikpanchang.com for
2015, there was a pradoSha on June 29, 2015 (Monday) at San Jose and the
next one which occurred on July 12, 2015 (Sunday) at San Jose. These two
pradoShas were 13 days apart. Another factor in pradoSha is the sunset
time, since shivapUja is prescribed after sunset. If there is a late
sunset, but a short trayodashI tithi that begins after sunset on the first
day and ends before sunset on the second day, then the first day becomes
the pradoSha day, not the second, although there is the trayodashI at
sunrise on the second day. This may cause the gap between consecutive
pradoShas to be less than 14 days too.

>>
My parents are aware of the dates in India, but are unable to transfer it
to California.
>>
I think the traditional panchanga makers are beginning to prepare tables of
observances for foreign lands and this will help the situation. Until then,
Date Panchang and others of similar reputation should be of use.

Anand

Anand

On Thu, Apr 26, 2018 at 5:05 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com> wrote:

>
> https://www.datepanchang.com/Free_Services/Panchang.aspx
> April 13 (Fri) & 26 (Thu)
>
> https://www.drikpanchang.com/vrats/pradoshdates.html?
> geoname-id=5392171&year=2018
> April 12 (Thu) & 26 (Thu)
>
> https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/panchangam
> April 13 (Fri) & 27 (Fri)
>
> Among these panchangas, the third seems to be following a pradoSha
> observance rule based on trayodashI tithi at sunrise rather than the tithi
> prevalence at pradoSha kAla, i.e. about 2.5 hours after sunset. I am not
> sure, though, why the drikpanchanga gives April 12 as
> the pradoSha date.
>
> To answer Shri Kartikji's and Shri Bhaskarji's question regarding the
> variation among panchangas and the resulting confusion, doubt, etc., this
> is where tradition and reputation of a panchanga plays a role. One needs to
> follow a panchanga that has been traditionally
> followed in one's family or by Astikas of the region or is a reputed
> panchanga. And stop worrying about what other panchangas say about the
> observance date. I know with certainty that the Date (pronounced dAte)
> Panchang is reputed and followed in many parts of Maharashtra
> and Karnataka. In fact, it has been followed at least since my
> grandfather's time in those areas. Shri Bhaskarji may very well know that
> in Bengaluru-Mysuru region, the oNTi-koppal Panchanga enjoys similar repute
> and many people strictly follow it, without paying attention to
> other panchangas.
>
> It is also not correct to arbitrarily choose a date, since in matters of
> dharma, any such alternatives would be specified clearly. In the absence of
> such alternatives, it is better to not exercise our judgement against the
> rule.
>
> Anand
>
>
> On Wed, Apr 25, 2018 at 9:41 PM, Anand Hudli <anandhudli at hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Pradosha should be on Thursday the 26th in CA. The Date Panchang website
>> has made it easy for people to check such observances online.
>>
>> https://www.datepanchang.com/Free_Services/Panchang.aspx
>>
>> Choose Los Angeles in the "Select City" dropdown and select a range of
>> dates, for example April 25 to April 29, 2018, and click "Submit".  The
>> Panchanga for the selected range of dates is displayed for the selected
>> city.
>>
>> On a related note, Narasimha Jayanti falls on Friday the 27th in CA (and
>> the rest of the west coast in the US), while it is to be observed on
>> Saturday the 28th in India and the east coast of the US.
>>
>> Anand
>>
>
>