Ugadi, celebrated as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and under other regional names elsewhere, marks the beginning of the Hindu lunisolar new year on the first day of Chaitra's bright f…
Ugadi has ancient roots as the traditional start of the Hindu lunisolar calendar year, observed under various regional names (Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka; Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra; Cheti Chand for the Sindhi community) reflecting a shared calendrical foundation across diverse regional traditions.
The festival marks the start of the new Hindu calendar year and, in the Vikram Samvat tradition, is understood as the day Brahma began creation — giving the occasion cosmological as well as calendrical significance.
Tradition holds that Brahma commenced the work of creating the universe on this specific day, tying the start of the Hindu new year directly to the very beginning of cosmic time itself, rather than treating it as merely an arbitrary calendrical marker.
Celebrated as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra with the raising of the decorated Gudi pole, as Cheti Chand by the Sindhi community honouring Jhulelal, and marks the beginning of Chaitra Navratri across much of North India on the same date.
Homes are cleaned and decorated with rangoli and mango leaf torans, the distinctive six-taste Ugadi Pachadi is prepared and eaten as a symbolic acceptance of the year ahead, and in Maharashtra the Gudi is ceremonially raised outside homes.
A ritual oil bath and new clothes typically precede the day's main observance, followed by preparation and consumption of Ugadi Pachadi and prayers marking the calendrical new year.
Homes are decorated with rangoli patterns and mango leaf torans strung across doorways; in Maharashtra, the Gudi pole with its bright cloth and inverted vessel becomes the day's central visual symbol.
Ugadi Pachadi, combining jaggery, neem, tamarind, salt, chilli and unripe mango to represent the year's full range of experiences, is the festival's single most distinctive and philosophically significant dish.
2026 date: March 19 (Thursday). Marks the start of Vikram Samvat 2083 and the beginning of Chaitra Navratri.
