Ugadi: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Ugadi, or Yugadi, is New Year's Day for Telugu and Kannada families: in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, and wherever their families now live. It falls on the first day of the bright half of Chaitra, in spring, when the neem and the mango trees are in flower. The name means "the beginning of an age", and many explain it simply as the beginning of the year.

The day begins early, with an oil bath, new clothes, fresh mango leaves tied over the doors and rangoli (muggulu or rangoli) at the threshold. Before anything else the family tastes Ugadi pachadi, a mix of six flavours that stands for the sweet and bitter of the year ahead. Later, families listen to the reading of the new year's panchangam, and many towns hold an Ugadi poetry gathering.

The same day is Gudi Padwa for Marathi families and Navreh for Kashmiri Pandits, and Chaitra Navratri begins on it or, in some years, the day before. Tamil, Malayali, Bengali, Odia and Punjabi families keep their new year by the solar calendar, from a few days to about four weeks later.

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. Families take Ugadi as the birthday of the world and of the year, a day to begin again.

A new name for the year. Telugu and Kannada calendars give every year a name from a cycle of sixty (samvatsaras), and the new name begins on Ugadi. The same calendars count the years of the Shalivahana Shaka era, which tradition links with King Shalivahana, and the new Shaka year also begins today.

Six tastes for a whole year. The heart of the festival is a small bowl of Ugadi pachadi. Families explain it this way: neem flowers are bitter, jaggery is sweet, tamarind is sour, raw mango is astringent, salt is salty and pepper or chilli is hot, and life in the coming year will bring all six. Tasting them together on the first morning is a quiet promise to take what comes with balance.

Listening to the year. In the reading of the panchangam (panchanga shravanam), a priest or scholar reads out the new year's name, its calendar and its festival days. Many readings also include traditional forecasts for the year; this app gives the calendar only.

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 began the counting of time. Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958), which summarises it, with the sunrise rule for the day and the eating of neem leaves. Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 82–83)
• The sixty-year (Barhaspatya) samvatsara cycle, whose year name changes at the start of each year in the Deccan: P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (1958). Cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 660–661)
• The Shaka era and the lunar new year (Chandramana Ugadi) on Chaitra 1, before the Sun reaches Mesha: N. Dershowitz and E. M. Reingold, "Indian Calendrical Calculations".

When it is kept

Ugadi 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. Gudi Padwa (engine id gudi-padwa) follows the same rule and falls on the same day. In a year with an extra (adhika) Chaitra, the app places Ugadi in the regular (nija) Chaitra, as it does every annual festival; some traditions begin the new year in the extra month instead, so check with your temple in such a year.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Ugadi 2027: New Year falls on Wednesday, April 7, 2027 in Washington DC (Telugu and Kannada 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

• Telugu and Kannada: Chaitra Shukla Pratipada at sunrise
• Marathi: Gudi Padwa on the same day (engine id gudi-padwa)
• Kashmiri Pandit: Navreh on the same day
• Sindhi: Cheti Chand, usually the next day, when the first crescent of the new moon is seen
• Tamil, Malayali, Bengali, Odia, Punjabi: solar new years at Mesha Sankranti (engine ids puthandu, vishu, pana-sankranti)

Why the day can differ

Ugadi depends on sunrise, so when Pratipada begins close to sunrise, cities east and west of each other can keep different dates, and a city abroad can keep Ugadi a day before or after India.

The bigger difference is between calendars. Families who follow a solar calendar keep their new year when the Sun enters Mesha, from a few days to about four weeks after Ugadi, depending on the year: Puthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala, Pohela Boishakh in Bengal, Pana Sankranti in Odisha and Vaisakhi in Punjab. Some Kannada families, above all on the coast, follow the solar calendar too and keep Souramana Ugadi at Mesha Sankranti. Telugu and Kannada families share Ugadi, but their customs, songs and dishes differ from home to home.

How to keep it at home

1. On the day before, clean the house. Early on Ugadi morning, everyone takes an oil bath (abhyanga snanam) with sesame oil, and wears new or clean clothes.
2. Tie a string of fresh mango leaves (toranam) over the main door, and draw rangoli or muggulu at the threshold. Decorate the puja place with flowers.
3. Make Ugadi pachadi: neem flowers, jaggery, tamarind water, small pieces of raw mango, a pinch of salt and a little pepper or green chilli. Offer it first to the family deity with a lamp, then give everyone a spoonful before breakfast.
4. Worship the family deity with flowers, a lamp and the festive food. Many Telugu and Kannada homes recite the Vishnu Sahasranama or the Lalitha Sahasranama, or play the Venkateswara Suprabhatam. Place the new year's panchangam before the deity before you open it.
5. Visit a temple, greet elders and receive their blessings, and attend the panchangam reading and the Ugadi poetry gathering if your community holds them. Abroad, many temples hold both on the nearest weekend.

Fasting

Ugadi is a feast day, not a fast. The only custom about food is to taste the pachadi first, before breakfast. Neem flowers are bitter, so give children and anyone unwell only a small taste.

Food

After the pachadi come the festive dishes: bobbatlu in Telugu homes and obbattu or holige in Kannada homes, sweet flatbreads filled with chana dal and jaggery; pulihora (tamarind rice) or raw-mango rice; payasam; and in Karnataka bevu-bella, a mix of neem and jaggery shared with friends.

For children

On Ugadi morning, Grandmother gives everyone a spoonful of a strange little dish. It is sweet, then bitter, then sour, then salty, then sharp and puckery, then a tiny bit hot. "A year is like this," she says. "Some days are sweet and some are bitter, and we enjoy them all together." Then she hugs everyone and says: happy new year!

Something to do together

Help a grown-up make Ugadi pachadi. Taste each ingredient on its own first and name its taste, then taste them all together. Draw a string of mango leaves to hang over your door.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules ugadi, gudi-padwa, navratri-chaitra, puthandu, vishu and pana-sankranti (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists and the engine's note on years with an adhika Chaitra.
• N. Dershowitz and E. M. Reingold, "Indian Calendrical Calculations" (lunar and solar new years, the sankranti rules).
• Wikipedia, "Ugadi" (the Telugu and Kannada new year, and Gudi Padwa on the same date).
• P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona, 1958): pp. 82–83 (the Brahma Purana passage, the sunrise rule, neem leaves and the reading of the year's almanac) and pp. 660–661 (the sixty-year cycle). Cited, not quoted.

Related guides

• Gudi Padwa
• Chaitra Navratri
• Vishu (Malayali New Year)