The sixty karanas of a lunation are numbered from the moment of the new moon. The first is Kimstughna, fixed; the last three are Shakuni, Chatushpada and Naga, also fixed; and the fifty six between them are the seven movable karanas turning eight times. Bava heads that rotation, so it takes positions 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 37, 44 and 51.
Translating those into the almanac: a karana at position p occupies the tithi numbered ceiling of p over two, taking its first half when p is odd and its second when p is even. Bava therefore falls in the second half of tithi 1, the first half of 5, the second of 8, the first of 12, the second of 15, the first of 19, the second of 22 and the first of 26.
Two consequences follow that belong to Bava alone. First, it is the only karana of the eleven that appears five times in the bright fortnight and three in the dark; every other movable karana splits four and four. Second, tithi 15 is Purnima, so Bava holds the second half of the full moon day in every lunation, immediately following the moment of opposition.
Its position at the head of the rotation is also why it is the first karana of the waxing month proper, taking over from Kimstughna as soon as the fixed opening half-tithi is spent.
On the clock, a karana averages 11 hours and 49 minutes, but the Moon's elongation rate varies enough that any one of them can run as short as about ten hours or as long as about thirteen and a half.