Ugādi takes its name from yuga-ādi, the beginning of an age, and is the lunar new year of Telugu and Kannada households, opening on Caitra Śukla Pratipadā. Some Purāṇic retellings hold that Brahmā began creation on this very day, although no single scriptural passage is cited by everyone. The day is honoured with Ugādi pachaḍi, a single dish of six tastes that stands for the joys and sorrows of the coming year. Tasting all six together, rather than choosing a favourite, is itself the teaching that a well-lived year accepts each experience in its due measure. How the day is fixed: Ugādi is the day on which Caitra Śukla Pratipadā prevails at local sunrise. Keep in mind: Sunrise differs from town to town, so the day can move by one depending on where you are. Guḍhī Pāḍavā in Maharashtra is kept on the same tithi, while the solar new years of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Bengal follow the Sun's entry into Meṣa instead. This year: The 2026 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Morning preparations: Houses hang mango-leaf toraṇas at the doorway, and the family takes an oil bath and puts on new clothes before worship. Ugādi pachaḍi: The first thing tasted is a single dish of jaggery, tamarind, salt, chilli, neem flower and raw mango. The six tastes stand for happiness, disgust, fear, anger, sorrow and surprise. Pañcāṅga śravaṇam: In Prātaḥ, at a temple or before a family elder, the new year's almanac is read aloud under its Śaka-era name, telling of graha positions, expected rainfall and general fortune. The reading avoids Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai. Worth remembering: Ugādi is a lunar new year and stays separate from the solar new years of Meṣa Saṅkrānti, such as Puthāṇṭu and Vishu. Where Viṣukkaṇi is a private first sight at home, the Ugādi almanac reading is heard together by the whole community. Custom varies from house to house and region to region. Telugu families prepare the full six-taste pachaḍi and often gather in the evening for kavi sammelanams, Kannada homes share bēvu-bella for Yugādi, and Marathi homes raise the guḍhī on the same tithi. Whatever the variation, follow the practice the elders of your own house have kept.
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