Ugādi / Gudi Padwa — the Hindu New Year
Caitra Śukla Pratipadā · March–April
The first day of the bright half of Caitra begins the lunar New Year for much of India. The name Ugādi comes from yuga + ādi, “the beginning of an age”. It is a day for fresh starts: a clean house, new clothes, a first look at the year's panchang, and a quiet prayer that the coming months be balanced and kind. Caitra Navarātri, the spring nine nights of the Goddess, also begins today.
At home, wake early, take an oil bath, and hang a toraṇa of mango leaves at the door. Light a lamp, offer flowers to Gaṇeśa and your family deity, and read or listen to the new year's panchang (pañcāṅga-śravaṇa) — what the year's planets are said to bring. Then share the special dish of the day: in Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka, Ugādi pacchaḍi mixes neem flowers, jaggery, raw mango, tamarind, salt and chilli — six tastes for the six flavours of life, taken together with equal grace.
In Maharashtra and Goa, families raise a guḍi at the window or door: a bamboo staff dressed in bright silk, topped with an upturned copper or silver pot, neem, mango leaves and a sugar-crystal garland — a flag of victory and welcome. Sindhis keep Cheti Chand, Kashmiri Pandits Navreh, and Manipur Sajibu Cheiraoba. Communities that follow the solar calendar — Tamil Puthandu, Kerala's Viṣu, Bengal's Poila Boiśākh, Assam's Bohāg Bihu, Punjab's Vaisākhī — celebrate their New Year in mid-April instead. Overseas, temples hold panchang readings and community meals.
Tradition says that Brahmā began the creation of the world on Caitra Śukla Pratipadā, so this day is counted as the first day of time itself. Another tradition remembers it as the day Rāma returned victorious, and the raised guḍi as the flag of that homecoming. In the Deccan, the era of King Śālivāhana — the Śaka year still printed in Indian calendars — is counted from this day.
Brahmā · Gaṇeśa · family deity · Panchang reading, neem-and-jaggery · Deccan, Maharashtra, Goa, Sindhi, Kashmir · Nirṇayasindhu (Caitra)