wishing all the members a vry happy yugaadi....
ugaadi is the new year's day for the people of the Deccan region of India. While the people of Karnataka use the term yugaadi and people from Andhra Pradesh use the term Ugadi for this festival, the people of Maharashtra term the same festival, observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa. Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate the same day as their New Year day Cheti Chand.
It falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The Saka calendar begins with the month of Chaitra (March/April) and yugaadi marks the first day of the new year.Yugaadi specifically refers to the start of the age we are living in now, Kali Yuga. Kali Yuga started the moment when Lord Krishna left the world. Maharshi Vedavyasa describes this event with the words 'Yesmin Krishno divamvyataha, Tasmat eeva pratipannam Kaliyugam'. Some Indian historians date the beginning of Kali Yuga to 3102 BC.
The festival marks the new year day for people between Vindhyas and Kaveri river who follow the lunar calendar, pervasively adhered to in the states of karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. This calendar reckons dates based on the Shalivahana era (Shalivahana Shaka), which begins its count from the supposed date of the founding of the Empire by the legendary hero Shalivahana. The Satavahana king Shalivahana (also identified as Gautamiputra Satakarni) is credited with the initiation of this era known as Shalivahana. The Salivahana era begins its count of years from the year corresponding to 78 AD of the Gregorian calendar. Thus, the year 2000 AD corresponds to the year 1922 of the Salivahana Era.
In the terminology used by this lunar calendar (also each year is identified as per Hindu Calendar), Yugadi falls on Chaitra Shudhdha Paadyami or the first day of the bright half of the Hindu month of Chaitra. This generally falls in the months of March or April of the Gregorian calendar.
Preparation for the festival begins a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash. Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the festival are done with a lot of excitement.The day, however, begins with ritual showers (oil bath) followed by prayers, and then the eating mixture of Neem Buds/Flowers for bitterness and Jaggery for sweetness known as Bevu- Bella, symbolizing the fact that life is a mixture of different experiences.