Ranjan Kumar Padmapati
(The writer can be reached at rkpadmapati@yahoo.co.in)
Yugadi or Ugadi is a major festival of South India , celebrated in the region
between the river Cauvery on one side and the Vindhya range on the other, covering the states of Karnataka and old Andhra Pradesh. It is observed on the first day of the month of Chaitra as per the lunar-solar calendar. This year it was celebrated on March 30. It begins on the first new moon after the spring equinox and is observed the next morning, as a Hindu day starts after the sunrise only. Many stories are woven around the origin of Yugadi. It is believed that Lord Brahma started creating the universe from this day onwards. Yugadi is thus celebrated to commemorate the occasion of the creation of the universe. The word Yugadi is derived from two Sanskrit words: Yuga, which means era, and Adi, which means beginning. Ugadi thus stands for the beginning of a new age. Another story attached to the origin of Ugadi is that Lord Rama on this day returned to Ayodhya, and the coronation ceremony of Lord Rama was celebrated on this particular day; thus, Chaitra Navaratri or Vasanta Navaratri commences on this day for nine days and ends on the Rama Navami day (April 6). It symbolizes the victory of good over evil. Yugadi is Karnataka’s New Year’s Day and is celebrated to mark the onset of spring.
By this time trees are adorned with new leaves, the earth appears green, jasmines bloom, mango trees bear fruit, and the nightingales sing, perching on the trees. Everything on earth appears beautiful; it is springtime! Nature offers a lease of new life with tender tree leaves, so also Yugadi signifies the unfurling of new hopes; nature rejuvenates people’s bodies and minds to welcome a new year. Actual preparation starts a week ahead. People start cleaning of houses and courtyards. People start purchasing new clothes, new golden ornaments and ingredients for special food preparations. The marketplace is full of beautiful flowers, garlands, fruits and other items of worship. Shops display new arrivals of garments, and people exchange gifts. Women folk go out for flower shopping ahead of Yugadi for worshipping and house decoration. The whole environment looks festive.
Many customs and rituals are associated with the celebration of the New Year. The front courtyard is given a paste of cow dung on which beautiful floral designs, Muggulu (Alpana), are drawn with different beautiful colours. On the auspicious day, people wake up before dawn and, after a thorough body massage with sesame oil, take a bath. The doors of houses and shopping establishments are decorated with fresh mango leaves tied on a string. Many new ventures, like the construction of a new house, the inauguration of a new business, and the signing of deeds, are considered very auspicious on this Yugadi day. The womenfolk, after taking a bath, dress up in traditional attire of opulent saris rich in colour with thick gold zari borders, while young girls are clad in traditional lehenga cholis. Traditionally men wear a white or off-white linen shirt and a cotton lungi. The oldest lady of the family blesses family members performing a mongal aarati and applies tilak of Kumkum paste on the forehead. Members offer prayers at the altar of the family deity in households. Lord Vishnu is mostly worshipped on Yugadi day. Other idols such as Ganesha, Maa Parvati, and Goddess Lakshmi are also preferred. All the idols are thoroughly bathed in oil. People offer neem flowers and mango to all the idols. Both ladies and young girls adorn themselves with jasmine flowers in their long braided hair, and the aroma of jasmine fills the air as Keteki, Nahar, and Kopouphul do in Assam. Every door at the entrance of houses is decorated with garlands of jasmine flowers and marigolds. A green coconut is placed on a kalasa (urn) with a swastika sign in red beneath a banana trunk.
After offering prayer at home, a priest is called to listen to “Ugadi Panchangram”. Or, people assemble at a temple. This is a practice to discuss horoscopes for the New Year of each individual and to seek remedial measures from the priest. A sacred dish, “ Ugadi Pachadi” or “Bevu Bella”, is a must with the celebration of Yugadi. It is a juicy mixture of six ingredients: jaggery, tamarind, salt, neem flowers, chilli powder and raw mango. It signifies that life is a mixture of different tastes, which one can not avoid but must absorb all. Jaggery represents happiness, tamarind represents unhappiness, salt adds flavour to life, chilli stands for aggressive moments, neem flowers are symbolic of unpleasant times and raw mango means sadness. Neem flowers and leaves are considered to be of high medicinal and spiritual importance; included in offerings to idols , a slokam is recited before taking “ Bevu Bella”. Rendering it into English goes as “ For attaining a diamond-like strong body that lasts a hundred years and for attaining all kinds of wealth and for destroying all negativity , one should consume or eat the neem leaves.” It resembles the Assamese tradition during Bohag Bihu to eat neem.
Though Yugadi is predominantly a Hindu festival, one can find traces of secularism at a particular temple of Lord Venkateswara at Kapada in Andhra Pradesh in the Rayalaseemma area, where on Yugadi day, Muslims clad in burqas and skull caps visit the temple with jaggery and ghee and other offerings, seeking blessings. It is in the best spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakan”. In Chitradurga and Tumakuru areas, new moon sighting is another custom considered sacred during Yugadi, as the festival marks the beginning of the Hindu lunisolar calendar month of Chaitra, which falls on the first day after new moon sighting and marks the arrival of spring!