Ugadi

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Ugadi
A Happy Ugadi puja tray Telugu Hindu New Year Vaisakhi.jpg
Ugadi Pachadi with New Year prayer puja tray
Also calledYugadi, Samvatsaradi
Telugu and Kannada New Year
Observed byHindus in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka
TypeReligious (Hindu), social, cultural
CelebrationsMuggu-Rangoli, visiting Temples, Feast with Holige and Bevu Bella
Begins1st day of Chaitra
DateMarch (generally), April (occasionally)
FrequencyAnnual
Related toPuthandu, Gudi Padwa, and other regional Hindu New Year's days
Ugadi Pachadi

Ugadi or Yugadi, also known as Samvatsarādi (lit. 'Beginning of the Year'), is the New Year's Day for the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Karnataka in India.[2] It is festively observed in these regions on the first day of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra.[3] This typically falls in April month of the Gregorian calendar.[3]

The day is observed by drawing colourful patterns on the floor called Muggulu, mango leaf decorations on doors called torana, buying and giving gifts such as new clothes, giving charity to the poor, oil massage followed by special bath, preparing and sharing a special food called pachadi, and visiting Hindu temples.[4][5] The pachadi is a notable festive food that combines all flavors – sweet, sour, salty, bitter, astringent and piquant. In Telugu and Kannada Hindu traditions, it is a symbolic reminder that one must expect all flavors of experiences in the coming new year and make the most of them.[6]

Ugadi has been an important and historic festival of the Hindus, with medieval texts and inscriptions recording major charitable donations to Hindu temples and community centers on this day.[7] The same day is observed as a New Year by Hindus in many other parts of India, such as Puthandu in Tamil Nadu and Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra.

Terminology[edit]

The name Yugadi or Ugadi is derived from the Sanskrit words yuga (age) and ādi (beginning): "the beginning of a new age".[6] Yugadi or Ugadi falls on "Chaitra Shudhdha Paadyami" or the first day of the bright half of the Indian month of Chaitra. This generally falls in late March or early April of the Gregorian calendar.[3][4]

The Kannadiga people use the term Yugadi (ಯುಗಾದಿ) and the Telugu people use the term Ugadi[8] (ఉగాది)[9] for this festival.[10][11]

Practices[edit]

Muggu (rangoli) arrangement in April 2009

The Kannada, Kodava, Telugu and the Tulu diaspora in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala celebrate the festival with great fanfare; gatherings of the extended family and a sumptuous feast are 'de rigueur'. The day begins early with ritual showers, rubbing the body with perfumed oil, followed by prayers.[5]

Ugadi Pacchadi (right) is a symbolic dish prepared by Hindu people on this festival

Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough clean.[5] People buy new clothes and Dhoti and buy new items for the festival, decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves.[4] Mango leaves and coconuts are considered auspicious in the Hindu tradition, and they are used on Ugadi. People also clean the front of their house with water and cow dung paste, then draw colorful floral designs.[4] People offer prayer in temples. The celebration of Ugadi is marked by religious zeal and social merriment.[12][6][13][14] According to Vasudha Narayanan, a professor of Religion at the University of Florida:[15]

The pacchadi festive dish symbolically reminds the people that the following year – as all of life – will consist of not just sweet experiences, but a combination of sweet, sour, salty, and bitter episodes. Just as the different substances are bound together, one is reminded that no event or episode is wholly good or bad. Even in the midst of bitter experiences, there are sweet moments. One is also reminded that the experience of taste is transitory and ephemeral; so too, is life, and one has to learn to put pain and pleasure in proper temporal perspective.[6]

Special dishes are prepared for the occasion.In Karnataka etables olige, vobattu and mango pickles are made .In Andhra Pradesh eatables such as "pulihora, bobbatlu (Bhakshalu/ polelu/ oligale), New Year Burelu and Pachadi" and preparations made with raw mango go well with the occasion. Of these, pachadi (or Ugadi pacchadi) is the most notable, and consists of a chutney-like dish which combines ingredients to give all six flavors of food (షడ్రుచులు - ṣaḍruculu) : sweet (తీపి - tīpi), sour (పులుపు - pulupu), salty (ఉప్పు - uppu), pungent (కారం - kāraṁ), bitter (చేదు - cēdu) and astringent (వగరు - vagaru).[16] This festive Hindu food is made from tamarind paste (sour), neem flowers (bitter), brown sugar or sweet jaggery (sweet), table salt (salt), green chilli (pungent) and raw mango (astringent). It is a symbolic reminder of complex phases of life one should reasonably expect in the new year.[15][13][17]

Related festivals[edit]

The Hindu Tamils in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, Singapore and the Tamil diaspora celebrate Puthandu, or Tamil New Year, on 14 April.[18]

The Hindus of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa (Marathi: गुढी पाडवा).[19]

The Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate the same day as Cheti Chand, which is the beginning of their calendar year.[20]

Manipuris also celebrate their New Year as Sajibu Nongma Panba on the same day.[21]

The Hindus of Bali in Indonesia also celebrate their new year on the same day as Nyepi.[22]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. "2021 Ugadi for Bengaluru, Karnataka". Drikpanchang: Hindu Calendar for the World. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  2. Karen-Marie Yust (2006). Nurturing Child and Adolescent Spirituality: Perspectives from the World's Religious Traditions. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 228–229. ISBN 978-0-7425-4463-5.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Roshen Dalal (2010). Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide. Penguin Books. p. 427. ISBN 978-0-14-341421-6.
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Maithily Jagannathan (2005). South Indian Hindu Festivals and Traditions. Abhinav Publications. pp. 77–78. ISBN 978-81-7017-415-8.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Jeaneane D. Fowler (1997). Hinduism: Beliefs and Practices. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-1-898723-60-8.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Narayanan, Vasudha (1999). "Y51K and Still Counting: Some Hindu Views of Time". Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Butler University. 12 (1): 17–18. doi:10.7825/2164-6279.1205.
  7. K.V. Raman (2003). Sri Varadarajaswami Temple, Kanchi: A Study of Its History, Art and Architecture. Abhinav Publications. pp. 97–98. ISBN 978-81-7017-026-6.
  8. Mar 25, TNN / Updated. "Hyderabad people celebrate Ugadi with food and family amid lockdown | Hyderabad News – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  9. Mar 31, TOI-Online. "Ugadi 2021 date, time and significance of Yugadi – Times of India". The Times of India. Times of india. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  10. ಸೋಹೋನಿ, ವಿಶ್ವಾಸ (15 March 2018). "ಯುಗಾದಿ ಎಂಬ ಹೊಸ ವರ್ಷ... ಏನಿದರ ಮಹತ್ವ?". kannada.oneindia.com (in ಕನ್ನಡ). Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  11. "Ugadi Festival in Telugu | ఉగాది చరిత్ర విశిష్టత విధానం". www.intelugu.net. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  12. Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi 91977), Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offerings, Current Anthropology, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1977), pages 507–514
  13. 13.0 13.1 Neem - Ancient Tree, Modern Miracle, Warm Earth, National Library of Australia, No. 83, Mar/Apr 2009, pages 36-37
  14. Devagi Sanmugam; Shanmugam Kasinathan (2011). Indian Heritage Cooking. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-981-4435-08-6.
  15. 15.0 15.1 Narayanan, Vasudha (1999). "Y51K and Still Counting: Some Hindu Views of Time". Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. Butler University. 12 (1): 17–18. doi:10.7825/2164-6279.1205.
  16. Gabriella Eichinger Ferro-Luzzi 91977), Ritual as Language: The Case of South Indian Food Offerings, Current Anthropology, University of Chicago Press, Vol. 18, No. 3 (September 1977), pages 507–514
  17. Devagi Sanmugam; Shanmugam Kasinathan (2011). Indian Heritage Cooking. Marshall Cavendish. pp. 96–97. ISBN 978-981-4435-08-6.
  18. "5 interesting facts of Puthandu or the Tamil New Year". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  19. "Share the love with a delectable Mavinakayi Chitranna recipe as you stay home this Gudi Padwa". The Economic Times. The economic Times. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
  20. "Ugadi a time to rejoice". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 4 April 2005. Archived from the original on 6 April 2005.
  21. "Navratri, Gudi Padwa, Sajibu Cheiraoba, Ugadi geetings flood Twitter". The Statesman. 18 March 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  22. "Bali's Silent Nyepi and India's Ugadi - A Time for Introspection". Center for Soft Power. 24 March 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2021.

External links[edit]

Template:New Year by Calendar

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