Gudi Padwa: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Gudi Padwa is New Year's Day for Marathi and Konkani families, in Maharashtra and Goa and wherever they now live. It falls on the first day (padwa, pratipada) of the bright half of Chaitra, in spring. Its sign is the gudi: a tall bamboo staff dressed in bright silk, crowned with an upturned pot of copper, silver or brass, with neem and mango leaves, a garland of flowers and a garland of sugar crystals. Families raise it at a window, a balcony or beside the front door at sunrise, worship it, and take it down at sunset.

The day begins with an oil bath, new clothes and a rangoli at the door. Families eat a little paste of neem leaves with jaggery before the festive meal, visit the temple and greet one another for the new year. Konkani families call the day Samsar Padvo.

The same day is Ugadi for Telugu and Kannada families and Navreh for Kashmiri Pandits, and Chaitra Navratri begins on it or, in some years, the day before. Gudi Padwa is also one of the three and a half days that Marathi tradition counts as good for any new beginning (sade-teen muhurta).

Why it is kept

The first day of creation. A passage of the Brahma Purana, quoted in the medieval digests on festival rules, says that Brahma created the world at sunrise on the first day of the bright half of Chaitra and began the counting of time, and that Brahma is worshipped first on this day. Many families call the gudi Brahmadhvaja, the flag of Brahma, and keep the day as the birthday of the year.

A flag of victory and welcome. Families give the gudi several meanings, and many hold more than one. Some say it recalls the flags raised in Ayodhya when Rama came home after his victory over Ravana. Others link it with King Shalivahana, whose era, the Shalivahana Shaka, the Marathi calendar still counts, and whose new year begins today. All agree that it is a sign of victory and of welcome, raised high so that good fortune and good news may find the house.

Neem and sweetness. The neem paste eaten on the first morning is bitter, and the jaggery and sugar crystals are sweet. Families explain that the year will bring both, and that the bitter neem of early spring is good for the body; the sugar garland on the gudi says that the year should end in sweetness.

The texts behind the story

• Brahma Purana, as quoted in the medieval digests on festival rules (Kalpataru, Hemadri, Krtyaratnakara): Brahma created the world at sunrise on the first day of the bright half of Chaitra, and Brahma is worshipped first on this day. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958), which summarises it and describes the Deccan custom of raising a pole with silk cloth and a pot, eating neem leaves and hearing the new year's almanac. Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 82–84)
• The gudi as Brahmadhvaja, and its links with Rama's return and with King Shalivahana: Marathi family tradition. Summarised in our own words.

When it is kept

Gudi Padwa is Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first tithi of the bright half of Chaitra, kept on the day on which Pratipada is present at sunrise at your location. If Pratipada is present at two sunrises, the first day is taken; if it begins and ends between two sunrises, the first of the two days is taken. Ugadi (engine id ugadi) follows the same rule and falls on the same day. The gudi is raised at sunrise and taken down at sunset; the app shows both times for your city. In a year with an extra (adhika) Chaitra, the app places Gudi Padwa in the regular (nija) Chaitra, as it does every annual festival; some families begin the new year in the extra month instead.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Gudi Padwa 2027: New Year falls on Wednesday, April 7, 2027 in Washington DC (Marathi rule, computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Marathi: Chaitra Shukla Pratipada at sunrise; the gudi from sunrise to sunset
• Konkani: Samsar Padvo
• Telugu and Kannada: Ugadi on the same day (engine id ugadi)
• Sindhi: Cheti Chand, usually the next day, when the first crescent of the new moon is seen

Why the day can differ

Gudi Padwa depends on sunrise, so when Pratipada begins close to sunrise, cities can keep different dates, and a city abroad can keep it a day before or after India. Families abroad who live in flats often raise a small gudi at a window or balcony, or set it beside the home shrine, where building rules do not allow a staff outside.

Families also differ on the details of the gudi: the colour of the cloth, the metal of the pot, which side of the door it stands, and whether it leans slightly. Follow your own family's custom.

How to keep it at home

1. On the day before, clean the house. Early on Gudi Padwa morning, everyone takes an oil bath and wears new or clean clothes. Draw a rangoli at the door and tie a string of mango leaves and marigolds above it.
2. Make the gudi: tie a bright silk cloth to the top of a clean bamboo staff, add neem and mango leaves, a flower garland and a garland of sugar crystals (gathi), and set an upturned copper or silver pot on the top.
3. After sunrise, raise the gudi at a window, balcony or beside the front door, on a clean spot with a small rangoli. Worship it with water, kumkum and turmeric, flowers, a lamp and incense, and offer a sweet. Many families say a prayer to Brahma and to their family deity.
4. Eat a little neem paste with jaggery, then the festive meal. Read or hear the new year's panchang, visit the temple, and greet elders and friends with good wishes for the new year.
5. At sunset, offer a little rice, sweets or milk to the gudi, take it down with care, and keep the sugar garland to share as prasad.

Fasting

Gudi Padwa is a feast day, not a fast. The only food custom is the small bitter taste of neem with jaggery before the meal; give children and anyone unwell only a little.

Food

Shrikhand with puri, puran poli, sabudana vada, kothimbir vadi and a festive thali are common in Marathi homes; Konkani and Goan homes make their own festive dishes by family custom. The sugar-crystal garland from the gudi is shared as prasad.

For children

On the first morning of the new year, families in Maharashtra put up a bright flag called a gudi, with a shiny pot on top, flowers, leaves and a necklace of sugar sweets. It stands tall to say welcome: welcome to the new year, and welcome to everything good it brings. In the evening the family takes it down and shares the sugar sweets.

Something to do together

Make a small gudi together from a wooden spoon or a straw, a scrap of bright cloth, a paper cup for the pot and a few leaves, and stand it on a windowsill for the day.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules gudi-padwa and ugadi (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists and the engine's note on years with an adhika Chaitra.
• Wikipedia, "Gudi Padwa" (the new year of Marathi and Konkani Hindus in Maharashtra and Goa, kept as Ugadi by Kannada and Telugu Hindus, and the gudi: a cloth tied at the top of a long bamboo, topped with an upturned vessel).
• P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona, 1958), pp. 82–84: the Brahma Purana passage, the sunrise rule, the Deccan pole with silk cloth and pot, neem leaves, the almanac reading, and the day as one of the three and a half most auspicious days. Cited, not quoted.

Related guides

• Ugadi (Yugadi)
• Chaitra Navratri