Chaitra Shukla Prathama, meaning the first day of the lunar month of Chaitra every year, is celebrated as the New Year Day according to the Panchanga. There are celebrations around this day as this is deemed as another new beginning.
Many regions of our country follow the lunar calendar and there are Amanta-following and Purnimanta-following traditions. A few regions follow the Sun’s transit-based calendars. Thus, if solar calendars are followed, the new year most likely comes in the middle of the month.
If someone follows a January-equivalent solar month, then Makara Sankranti becomes the starting of their new year and is celebrated as Pongal. Few others may consider Vaisakha month’s Sun transit as the beginning of the new year; this becomes their Poila Baisak.
Seasonal transition and renewal
Chaitra is one of the very pleasant months of the year. The transiting season from cold to warm to hot is the period. The crop output had already reached home. The output might have become the outcome, causing happiness.
New hopes are around as all the trees that shed their leaves start getting new stock. The dullness of the cold season yields way to the activity of the warmer times. The inhibiting rains are a distance away.
Philosophy behind Ugadi
Ugadi, or Yuga+Adi, is an annual occasion to cheer up and re-celebrate the festival called life. We might have worked hard, invested energies, got some of the due, and missed a part of the bus; still, this festival provides the hope that the future is holding many good things for us.
Symbolism of Shad Ruchis
In regions where this is traditionally celebrated, a special prasad is served that has “Shad+Ruchis”—sweet to bitter to sour—all six tastes get contained in the prasad. This reminds us of the bouquet called life, that it holds different things for us. We may savour whatever comes to the fore. Life is a panorama, is the takeaway for us.
Message of hope and resilience
Holding the breath during testing times, not losing heart when stakeholders behave mysteriously, when the knocks on the door do not get answered, and we do not know the reason for all this—remember Ugadi, there is a new beginning and it brings renewed hope.
(Dr. S. Ainavolu is a Mumbai-based teacher of Management and Tradition.)
