Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka

About

Ugadi (in Telugu) and Yugadi (in Kannada) is the New Year of the people of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. It falls on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright fortnight of the month of Chaitra. The word means the beginning (adi) of an age (yuga).

The site's main Ugadi and Gudi Padwa page covers the common festival and the Marathi form of the New Year. This page focuses on Telugu and Kannada customs.

The Telugu and Kannada calendars are lunisolar and Amanta, the year is counted in the Shaka era, and the year number changes on Ugadi.

Significance and stories

Ugadi opens a new year with a name from the sixty-year cycle that begins with Prabhava. The name is announced in the almanac and recalled in the day's prayers.

One tradition holds that Brahma began creation on this day. Some link the day to Vishnu's Matsya (fish) avatar, who saved the Vedas. Accounts differ by region and family. Many people simply understand Ugadi as a day of fresh beginning in spring, when the mango and neem are in flower.

The central symbol of the day is the Ugadi pachadi, a mixture of six tastes. The lesson is to accept the whole of life: sweetness, sourness, bitterness and the rest. Writers explain each taste in a slightly different way.

How to observe (puja vidhi)

1. Clean the house. Clean and decorate the home. Hang a garland of fresh mango leaves (toranam) at the main door and draw a rangoli or muggu pattern.
2. Oil bath. Early in the morning, apply sesame oil to the head and body, and bathe. This is called abhyanga snanam. Put on new or clean clothes.
3. Prayer. Light a lamp in the puja room and offer flowers, incense and fruit to the family deity. Pray for the health and well-being of your family during the year.
4. Ugadi pachadi. Offer a little pachadi to the deity, and then take a small portion first, before any other food.
5. Panchanga sravanam. Gather to hear the almanac for the new year read aloud, at home or at a temple, by a priest or an elder. It covers the year's name, the planets, rainfall, crops and a forecast for each zodiac sign.
6. Festive meal. Share the festive meal with the family.
7. Visit and greet. Visit elders and the temple, and exchange greetings.

Customs differ between families, and the details are to be followed as your family does.

Puja items (samagri)

• Fresh mango leaves for the door garland
• Flowers, turmeric, kumkum and rice
• Sesame oil for the oil bath
• A lamp, oil or ghee, wicks, camphor and incense
• Fruits, coconut and betel leaves with nuts
• Ingredients for the pachadi: neem flowers, jaggery, tamarind, raw mango, green chilli (or pepper) and salt

Fasting and food

Ugadi is not a fast. The ritual begins with the Ugadi pachadi, taken first. It is made of six tastes: jaggery for sweet, tamarind for sour, neem flowers for bitter, raw mango for tang, green chilli for heat and salt. Some households also add banana or coconut, and writers differ about which feelings each taste represents.

In Karnataka, many families share bevu-bella, a simple mix of neem and jaggery. The festive meal often includes sweet flatbreads called bobbatlu or holige (stuffed with sweet gram and jaggery, also known as obbattu in Kannada), tamarind rice (pulihora), mango dishes, and payasam. The meal is vegetarian in most homes.

If you have a health condition or are pregnant, nursing or elderly, follow your doctor's advice about food. Neem is bitter, so take only a small portion.

Regional customs

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the panchanga sravanam is a distinct part of the day. The reading typically includes the incomes and expenses of the year (adayam and vyayam), and the respect and humiliation (raja pujyam and avamanam) that fall to each sign of the zodiac. Many temples and cultural groups also host poetry gatherings on Ugadi, where poets recite verses in Telugu.

In Karnataka, Yugadi is often kept with the bevu-bella tradition, and the almanac is read in many temples. Many families begin the year with a visit to the temple and a meal of holige.

Puthandu and Vishu come around the same season but are solar festivals on fixed dates. Ugadi is lunar, so its date changes each year.

Celebrating in the USA

Ugadi often falls on a weekday. Telugu and Kannada associations and temples hold Ugadi events on the nearest weekend, with a panchanga sravanam and a festive meal. Check with your local association.

At home, you can prepare the pachadi in a few minutes. Raw mango is available in Indian grocery stores in spring, and dried neem flowers can be found there too, or you can leave out the bitter note if they are not available. Mango leaves are sold in some shops and can be replaced with a garland of other fresh leaves. Take the oil bath before work, and keep the puja short and calm. Many families take a half day off and read the year's almanac together in the evening.