Material for correct time of observance of Hindu holidays inEnglish

[Vidyasankar Sundaresan]

>In going thru a reprint of "Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials" by B.A. Gupte ,
>1916 I've come across something perplexing.  He lists Shivaratri as the
>13th
>of the month, and Mahashivaratri as the 13th of Magha both in his index and
>the text of the article itself.  Is there any possible reason other than
>error why he would list shivaratri as the 13th and not the 14th?

He must have listed it according to the actual practice. tithi is calculated
according to the phase of the moon at sunrise, but Sivaratri is to be
observed through the night, not through the day. Usually, the chances are
that if the moon is in its 13th phase at sunrise, it will enter the 14th
phase during the night (if it has not already passed into the 14th, in the
middle of the solar day). By the time the 14th day passes into the night,
amAvAsyA would have begun. So the Sivaratri observance generally starts
during the night of the 13th, and continues into the morning of the 14th.

Vidyasankar
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