Yugādi opens the cāndramāna (lunar) new year in Karnataka. It falls on Caitra Śukla Pratipadā, the same day that Andhra and Telangana keep as Ugādi and Maharashtra as Guḍhī Pāḍavā. The year is greeted with bevu-bella, neem flowers and jaggery eaten together, whose bitterness and sweetness remind the family that the coming months will bring both. The other central rite is Pañcāṅga Śravaṇam, the reading of the new year's almanac and its predictions. How the day is fixed: Yugādi is kept on the day when Caitra Śukla Pratipadā prevails at local sunrise. Keep in mind: Because the tithi is read at each town's own sunrise, the day can differ by one between places. The morning pañcāṅga reading is timed to avoid Rāhu kālam, Yamagaṇḍam and Guḷikai. This year: The 2027 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. Oil bath and toraṇa: The household rises early for an oil bath and new clothes, and a toraṇa of mango and neem leaves is tied across the doorway. Bevu-bella: After the morning pūjā, the first thing everyone tastes is bevu-bella, neem flowers with jaggery. It is a simpler two-taste form of the idea behind the six-taste Telugu Ugādi pachaḍi. Pañcāṅga Śravaṇam and obbaṭṭu: Temples and maṭhas hold a special abhiṣeka and the year's first formal pañcāṅga reading, where people gather to hear the samvatsara's name, the outlook for rain and crops, and the forecast for each rāśi. At home, obbaṭṭu, also called holige, is the day's principal sweet. Worth remembering: Ugādi, with its six-taste pachaḍi, and Guḍhī Pāḍavā fall on the same Pratipadā but are separate observances. Yugādi is the Karnataka form of the day, marked by bevu-bella and obbaṭṭu. Custom varies from house to house and town to town. Some families hear the pañcāṅga from their own elder at home while others go to the temple, and the way the bevu-bella is prepared differs between households. Knowing the pañcāṅga rule is useful, but the surest guide is the practice the elders of one's own house have followed.
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