PART I
Legends
of Ugadi: The Yugadi observance has many legends or
stories around it.
When Kaliyuga has started- the beginning of
kaliyuga: “Yesmin Krishno DivamVyataha, Tasmat eeva pratipannam kalikugam”,
these Sanskrit verses of the great Sage Vedauyasa explains that Kali Yuga has
started at the time when Lord Krishna passes away. Yugadi, pronounced as Ugadi,
represents the beginning of a new yuga (era). Some famous historians of India
date the starting of Kaliyuga to 3102BC.
Ugadi is the New Year day for the Hindus
between the rivers- Vishyas and Kaveri. It starts its count from the date when
the Shatavahana King, Shalivahana established his enpire. King Shalivahana is
also called as Gautamiputra Shatakarni. The Southern India Calender (the era of
Shalivahana Shaka) counts its years starting from the year 78 AD of the
Gregorian calendar. Hence the year 2000 AD marks the year 1922 of the
Salivahana saka. As per the lunar or Hindu Calendar, Ugadi corresponds to the
first day of the first half of the Chaitra month. Which usually comes in the
mnonth of March or April of the regular Gregorian calendar.
The other popular legends has been associated with the festival is that
the Lord Brahma started creation of the vast universe on the auspicious day of
Ugadi or Chaitra suddha padhyami. Lord Brahma created the days, weeks, months
and years in order to count time and then created all other elements present in
the universe.
Origin of Ugadi festival
Ugadi in Kannada
is the New Year's Day
for the people of the Deccan region of India.
The name Yugadi or Ugadi is derived
from the Sanskrit words “yugadi” (age) and ādi (beginning): "the beginning of a
new age". It falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar
calendar. This traditional festival is usually
celebrated in the second half of March or in early April. People from all over
Karnataka celebrate this festival with much enthusiasm and gaiety.
The people of
Karnataka consider Ugadi to be an auspicious time for commencing new ventures.
This is the time when New Year’s Day is also celebrated in the states of Tamil
Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal and Assam. While it is called Ugadi in
A.P. and Karnataka, in Maharashtra it is known as Gudipadawa.
Significance of Ugadi
·
Ugadi marks a
change in the lunar orbit as well as the beginning of the new Hindu lunar
calendar. It also heralds the advent of spring. Mother Nature awakes from her
deep slumber to give birth to new plants and cover earth in a blanket of green.
As spring accompanies new life on earth, this festival of New Year accompanies
a feeling of joy, growth and prosperity. The nine day long spring festival of
Vasanta Navratri begins on this day and concludes on Ramnavami.
Ugadi marks the beginning of a new
Hindu lunar calendar. It is a day when mantras are chanted and predictions made
for the New Year. The most important thing in the festival is Panchanga
Shravanam – hearing of the Panchanga.The Panchanga Shravanam is done at the
temples by the priests. Before reading out the annual forecasts as predicted in
the Panchanga, the officiating priest reminds the participants of the creator –
Brahma, and the span of creation of the universe.
The reading of the Panchanga then
involves reading of other Tidhis (wealth and prosperity) during the year and
ends with h a forecast for various sectors of the social life and the strengths
and effects of various constellations and their transitions.
The scriptures state that the benefits reaped by the
listener as well as the reader, are equivalent to having a dip in the holy
river Ganges. The individuals hearing the Panchanga should respectfully ‘thank’
the reader and offer him new clothes and seek his blessings.
·
Rangoli is must for
Ugadi celebrations. This is because, rangoli are made for all sacred occassion
according to Hindu culture. A rangoli is symbolic of festivity and
auspiciousness.
·
The family deity
is workshipped at home according to their custom. All the family members wear
new cloths on this day and prostrate before god and elders.
·
The bitter neem
flowers are mixed with jiggery and offered to god and it is distributed to
everyone in the family. This is a practice to remind that both happiness and
sadness have to be experienced in one life.
“Sukha Dukhe Samekruthva
Labha Labhav Jayaa Jaya”
Sri Krishna says this to Arjuna in the
Bhagvad Geetha that “ is whether sadness or happiness, gain or lose, win or
lose all these aspects of life should be trated equally”.
Preparations for Ugadi
·
Preparations for
the festival start a week in advance. Houses are thoroughly cleaned and washed.
People buy new clothes for themselves and their family members to enjoy the
spirit of Ugadi. They also purchase several other things needed for the
festival.
·
On Ugadi day,
people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath. The bath is
supposedly to be taken after massaging the entire using sesame oil.
·
The main door of
the houses is adorned with mango and neem leaves strong knows as “thorana”.
Celebrations of Ugadi
·
Ugadi is
celebrated by decorating the temples with fresh flowers and fresh mango leaves.
Among the flowers mainly the sweet smelling jasmine is used for the
decorations. Most people also decorate their homes and puja rooms with flowers
and mango leaves. There is an interesting legend behind the practice of
decorating with mango leaves.
·
The legend goes
that Subramanya and Ganesha, the sons of Lord Shiva and Parvati loved eating
mangoes. Kartik urged people to tie fresh leaves of mango tree to the doorway
in order to indicate good yields.
·
All the members of
the family gather and pray together and seek blessings from the Almighty during
Ugadi celebrations. Food, as is the normal trend in all festivals, occupies an
important place in this festival too. Special dishes are prepared and enjoyed
by the people to mark the festival.
·
The next step is
offer prayers to Sun, before accepting Vepapoota Pachadi (Neem Flower Pickle)
on an empty stomach. Entrances of the houses are decorated with fresh mango
leaves. It is noteworthy that we use mango leaves and coconuts (as in a
Kalasam, to initiate any pooja) only on auspicious occasions to propitiate
gods.
·
People also splash
fresh cow dung water on the ground in front of their house and draw colorfulfloral designs. This is a common sight in every household.
People perform the ritualistic worship to God invoking his blessings before
they start off with the new year.
Rituals Followed On Ugadi
The festival is
wrapped in traditions. The ceremonial day starts early, with the elderly ladies
of the family getting up at around 4.30 a.m. while chanting mantras.
Several rituals are followed during the day to mark the celebration. The
common rituals are:
- Reflection in Ghee: Watching
one’s reflection in a bowl of molten ghee.
- Enne (Oil) Shastra: Elderly
women of the family applying kumkum to the younger members and performing
arathi.
- Abhyang: Taking of oil bath
by all members of the family.
- New Dresses: Wearing of new
clothes by all family members.
- Abhyang for Gods: Giving oil
bath to the idols of Gods.
- Offering flowers: Offering
flowers of neem, mango and tamarind to the Gods.
- Offering Puja: Puja is
offered following the steps of Abhisheka, Alankara, Naivedya and
Mangalarathi.
- Panchanga Pooje: After
worshipping God, Panchanga for the new Samvathsara or Year is worshipped.
- Gudi or Indra Dhwaja Pooje:
Indra Dhwaja Pooje is done next.
- Front door decoration:
Decorating the front door with Kemmannu (red earth), Rangoli and Mango
leaves. Sometimes neem leaves are also used.
- Bevu Bella: Eating of
jaggery and neem together in this festival to mark the presence of
sweet and sour events in life’s journey.
- Oota: Offering meals to God
and then eating Oota or meals as Prasada.
Symbolic eating of
a dish with six tastes
The eating of a specific mixture of six
tastes called Ugadi Pachhadi Bevu-Bella in Kannada, symbolizes the fact that life is a
mixture of different experiences (sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust,
surprise), which should be accepted together and with equanimity through the
New Year.
The special mixture consists of:
Cuisine
for Ugadi
The main item
prepared during the festival of is Bevu Bella. It is actually a paste made fromggery,
neem buds, tamarind juice and raw mango. All the ingredients are ground
together to make a fine paste. The significance of this item is that it denotes
all the tastes of life. The bitter, sweet and sour tastes each remind us the
basic fact that life is a mixture of happy and sadevents and we must remain ready to
accept everything in life.
During Ugadi
festival, all members of the family taste this paste and try to remain
conscious of the fact that everything in life is temporary.
Apart from Bevu
Bella, several other dishes are also prepared to celebrate the festival. Among the famous dishes cooked in
Karnataka during this occasion are puliogure and holige (obbattu).
PART II
Activities conducted by Rural Literacy and
Health Programme (RLHP)
“Documentation
of the Social Significance of Ugadi” by the members of the youth exchange
program conducted by Rural Literacy and Health Programme (RLHP). The aim of this initiative was to document
the socio political and cultural values that are attached this day.
RLHP organised a meeting for the youth exchange group on 10-4-2013
a day before the Ugadi festival at RLHP office in which 15 youths participated.
The objective of this meeting was to provide orientation for the youths on
activates assigned to them on Ugadi Festival. Mrs Saraswathi conducted the orientation
programme in the presence of other RLHP staff. The orientation programme
discussed about the significance of Ugadi Festival and its message. Youths
shared their experience of celebrating the Ugadi Festival.
Youths were informed of their assignment for this Ugadi Festival.
1) Discussion with older community members
about practices involved in celebrating Ugadi Festival in the olden times and
the changes that have happened in the recent times.
2) Preparing a photo documentation of the
Ugadi Festival
3) Preparation of a report based on the
above mentioned activities.
The youths were divided into three groups according to
geographical area they had to cover.
Slums: Nachanahalli playa, Kyathmaranahalli, Metagalli.
Youth Members: Manjula, Manoj, Dhanuja, Gayathri, Shilpa
RLHP Staff: Lokesh,
Saraswathi
Villages: MC hundi, Dandikare, and Innamuttanhalli
Youth Members:
Rameshchandra, Manojkumar, Viji, Girija, Kavya
RLHP Staff: Sheela, Vineeth
Shelter Homes: Ashabhavana
and Ashakirna
Youth Members: Triveni,
Deepa, Pushpa, Ganesh, Rajesh
RLHP Staff: Roopa,
Anusuya
Each team was allocated with a camera. Few of the youth members
were using camera for the first time, hence they were given a basic training by
RLHP staff to capture photos. They practiced during the meeting till they
became confident to take pictures the next day.
During the Ugadi Festival youth members commenced activities
assigned to them form early morning. They visited the allocated areas and
started taking photos of different rituals associated with Ugadi Festival like
pooja, rangoli, distribution of new clothes, cleaning and decoration of homes
Youth members also took pictures of preparation of sweets for the festival
which is an integral part of Ugadi Festival.
During the day the youth members visited temples, homes of community
members, conducted discussions with older community members and children’s
group. They took notes from these visits for the preparation of their report.
Youth Members collecting information from the
villages
Ugadi
festival falls on a different day every year because the Hindu calendar is a
lunisolar calendar. Yugadi 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. The festival marks the New Year day for people between Vindhyas and
Kaveri River who follow the South Indian lunar calendar, pervasively adhered to
in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa.
Celebration of Ugadi in Urban Areas
On the day of Ugadi,
people wake up early in the morning and apply oil on the body and take a
shower. Men and women clean their surroundings to celebrate the festival. Women
and girl children prepare rangoli in front of the house.
Rangoli
The
family will clean the statue and ornaments of god and goddess in their house
and decorate them with flowers to offer prayers. Everybody celebrating this festival will wear
new clothes for the celebration.
Children wearing new cloths
Mango
and neem leafs garlands are used to decorate houses for Ugadi festival. Within
an urban scenario families tend to use plastic leafs as it is very difficult to
get neem and mango leafs in urban areas. This indicates the welcoming of gods
to their households. After the decoration
and
prayers
at the house, the families will go the temple.
neem and mango leafs
At
the temple families will attend a special pooja and listen to the priest
reading the Panchanga (Astrology Book) which speaks about the near future. Once
the family is back from the temple they prepare Bevubella which is a mixture of
neem leafs and jiggery. The families share the Bevubella with their neighbors.
Scientifically this delicacy is good for health as the neem will purify blood
and jagarry will give
essential
calcium for the body and it also helps in maintaining the water level of human
body. This food also symbolizes the presence of happiness and sadness with
equal proportion in life.
In some
urban areas the newlywed couples are invited to their in laws house to provide
a special dinner. This is also an auspicious moment to bless the newlywed
couples and give them best wishes.
In
urban areas families tend to buy Ugadi special delicacies from shops than
prepare it themselves. Within an urban celebration of Ugadi festival the
festivities tend to stay within the nuclear family and
neighbor. The participation of extended families has limited
scope in urban celebrations of Ugadi festival.
On the day of Ugadi festival children to adults are allowed
to play Pachhiaata and Jujatta, which is a form of gambling. The belief behind
this activity is that if a person wins money on Ugadi festival they can earn
lot more money that year.
The day after Ugadi festival the community
members will throw colored water at each other resembling holi festival. This day is called Varshatha Thudaku which
means purification from the sins they committed last year. They prepare non
vegetarian meals on this day which is usually chicken or mutton curry.
Celebration of Ugadi
in Rural Areas
In
villages the elders shared that the community members travel together early in
the morning to a river called Thriveni Sangam with statues of Gods and their
ornaments. Thriveni Sangam is a place in Narsipura, Mysore where three rivers
join. The community members form the village dip the statues of gods, ornaments
and themselves at Thriveni Sangam which is considered a sacred place. By
dipping themselves in the sacred water of Thrivein Sangam they are purified of
their sins.
Once
they are back from Thriveni Sangam, the community members clean their house,
cattle and all the agricultural equipments.
After the cleaning they conduct a pooja and offer prayers to God and
Goddess. Once the pooja is completed the community members perform a ritual
called the Honneru. Here they will plough around their agricultural land to
signify the work to be done in the coming year.
The community members will wear new clothes while celebrating
the Ugadi festival. Women and children will prepare rangoli in front of their house. Mango and neem leafs garlands
are used to decorate houses and village streets for Ugadi festival.
The
village temple priest will put all ornaments on the god’s statue into a wooden
box and carry the wooden box on his head around the village. This is to
symbolize the presence of god in every part of the village. The community
members also believe that the god has been sitting in the temple for one full
year and with this ritual Gods presence will the felt everywhere in the
village.
While the temple
priest is walking around the village
with the wooden box, the community members
will lie
down on the village street and the temple priest will walk
over them.
The community members believe that by letting
the temple priest walk over them
with the basket they receive
blessing from God.
During the Ugadi festival women prepare special
food
like Bevubella Holige, Idlli, and Payasam. They also
prepare Chithranna
which is a special food prepared by
mixing rice with unripe mango. On the day
of Ugadi
festival the family will pray to their ancestors before
they have
their lunch and dinner together.
After
the prayers Panaka (juice made from jaggary) and Majjige (butter milk) is
distributed among the community members to cool down their body during the
celebrations.
The last ritual of Ugadi festival is Devara Meravanige (Gods
procession). Here the gods statue is carried around the village by youths and
all the villager will go in the procession. They will visit each home in the
village during the procession and return back to the temple.
The Pachhiaata and Jujatta is carried out in
urban as well as rural areas. The Varshatha Thudaku is also conducted in rural
areas; they will not do any work this day and will give rest to their cattle.
PART III
The social and cultural changes in
celebrating this festival:
Over the years the changes that has happened to
this traditional cultural in the name of modernization of festivals. The
changes are:
|
Change in the family systems- Joint to
Nuclear
|
Earlier people used to live in joint family
system and all the family members have been living together. Relatives used
to visit them during festivals, people used to wait for this festival to come
so that they can visit relatives. Children can play together and the young
child in the family also known the importance of grand parents and relatives.
|
Due to change from joint family to nuclear
family, the members in the family do not know the traditional practices. Most
of them don’t visit their grand parents and relatives.
|
|
Cultural importance
|
Earlier the full festival was done very
scientifically and had cultural importance
|
The cultural importance is not there. Enjoy
one day holiday from work and school
|
|
Cultural changes in the traditional
practices
|
They follow the traditional practices in an
order- step by step
|
They wake up after the sun rise (late) and
go to temple when they get time
|
|
|
Mango and neem leafs garlands are used to
decorate houses for Ugadi festival.
|
Within an urban scenario families tend to
use plastic leafs as it is very difficult to get neem and mango leafs in
urban areas.
|
|
|
Use only natural things what they grow
|
Purchase all artificial things
|
|
|
Children enjoy playing in swing and going
to temple
|
Children and adults watch TV programmes and
sit inside the houses
|
|
|
The family members used to sit together and
make Holige
|
In Urban areas the families buy readymade
holige from shop
|
|
|
In the evening the villagers used to play
village sports and games
|
The children and the youth are not aware of
their traditional sports and games, they play cricket
|
|
|
For this festival children purchased
traditional dresses
|
The children only wear jeans and would not
prefer to wear the traditional dresses
|
|
|
At the temple families will attend a
special pooja and listen to the priest reading the Panchanga (Astrology Book)
which speaks about the near future.
|
In most of the temples panchanga are not
read
|
|
|
Rangoli is must for Ugadi celebrations. This is because,
rangoli are made for all sacred occassion according to Hindu culture. A
rangoli is symbolic of festivity and auspiciousness.
|
The younger generations does not even know
to put a rangoli, if they know also they don’t like to spent so much time in putting
a big rangoli
|
|
Sharing of work and responsibilities-
Gender disparities
|
All the relatives shared work and prepare
the traditional food. Buy afternoon they finish their work and have lunch
together and later the women in the families get time to take rest
|
These days there is no concept of inviting
relatives and friends. In case they invite there is no sharing of work and
responsibilities hence the women in the family trends to spent the whole day
in the kitchen cooking and washing
|
|
|
In the evening women and men go out to
their temple together
|
The women is tired by evening and the men
in the houses watch TV and relax
|
|
Environmental changes
|
During earlier times on the day of Ugadi it
used to rain
|
These days due to climate change, it does
not rain on the day of Ugadi
|
|
|
In fews parts of the village the whole
villagers go together to river to have bath and wash away their sins
|
In Urban areas there is no river and even
lakes are privatized, so that the common man who used to use the lack does
not have permission to enter the lack.
|
|
|
Only for diwali they used to burst crackers
|
These days the youth burst crackers during
ugadi as well and spoil the environment – adding on to air pollution
|
|
|
Earlier all the natural things were used
like- platen left to eat the lunch, mango and neem leaf to decorate the
house, flowers to decorate the house and temple etc, after use the platen
leaf will be given to cow to eat and the leaf and the flowers were dried and
used a manure.
|
Most of the natural things which is
required for the festival is not available so the people trend to buy
artificial things and later throw it in the garbage. These artificial
decoration items are mostly made of plastic and cannot be re-cycled.
|
|
|
The community members travel from one place
to another- going to temple in bulla cart and all of them go together
|
The people travel in individual cars, which
increases the level of air and noise pollution
|
|
|
There was many wells in the villages and no
shortage of water- every one use to take water from well and rivers to have
their early morning bath
|
Since water is not available- people take
bath when in water supply the water comes. Sometimes in the evening (it does
not have a fixed time), therefore the communities members spent the whole day
waiting to fetch water when it is coming
|
|
Cultural Harmony
|
During earlier days if there is some
misunderstanding or cultural disharmony among the villagers, they used this
day to forget all that and come together and reunite with the families
|
The people do not even take the opportunity
to visit their neighbors and solve their problem
|
|
|
|
If there is any cultural disharmony it get
widen during festivals
|
|
|
All the religious people come together and
take the temples god for procession without any ego. They thing it is their
village festival and community harmony is prayed
|
|
|
|
In a family if there is any love marriage
that has taken place, the in-laws forget that and invite the newly married
couple to their house to celebrate the festival together- this also serves
the purpose of reuniting the family members
|
|
|
Financial burden
|
The family members used to take loan to
celebrate this festival- to purchase new dresses and to give money to all
youngsters and to prepare all the traditional food
|
The family members do not strain
themselves, by taking a loan.
|
PART IV
Conclusion
This was a very positive activity for youth members as this gave
them an opportunity to familiarise better with their surrounding and think
beyond a superficial celebration of Ugadi Festival. This activity enabled the
youth members to think about Ugadi festival from a social and cultural
perspective, understand its significance in today’s world.
Ugadi festival is still seen as an important festival by urban and
rural people. However there are significant changes in the way Ugadi is
celebrated in urban and rural areas. Within the urban scenario the celebration
is spiritual but has many elements of materialism in it. To celebrate Ugadi
festival in a traditional manner it is required to have a certain amount of
natural components like mongo and neem leaves, articles for pooja. These
components are not readily available in urban areas and the people have to make
do with fake components like plastic leaves. Ugadi is also a celebration of a
community welcoming a new year for prosperity, but it is hardly celebrated like
that in urban areas due to lack of familiarity with neighbors and limited scope
of inviting extended families to urban areas.
Within the context of rural areas the Ugadi is celebrated by the
entire community with greater significance to rituals. The celebrations in rural areas are rooted in
their traditional rituals and the entire community participates in the
festivities. The youth of the community takes a significant role is conducting
the various activities and supports the temple priest in organizing and
executing various aspects of the rituals. The community as whole believes in
the rituals as they are well aware about the meaning of each ritual and the
change it can bring to their life.
The youth members participated in this activity with full conviction.
They started their assigned duties early in the morning with very little
support from the RLHP staff. The youth members initiated meetings with older
community members to get significant details for their reports. They enjoyed
this activity very much and made the youth members more confident and
responsible. Their overall observation was that, in present scenario there is
alteration in the social structure of a social group or society, ie. a change
in the nature, social institutions, social behaviours or social relations of a
society. This is because of the paradigmatic change in the socio-economic
structure, for instance a shift away from feudalism and towards capitalism.
These changes are driven by cultural, religious, economic, scientific or
technological forces.
