Mangalore: Ugadi - City Welcomes New Year with Joy

Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Compiled by Naveen Menezes
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Mar 23: 'Ugadi', a festival that ushers in the New Year according to the Hindu calendar, is celebrated with much joy by the Kannada, Marathi, Telugu and the Konkani diaspora in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This year, the festival is being celebrated on Friday March 23.
 
It is believed that the creator of the Hindu pantheon Lord Brahma started creation on this day - "Chaitra Suddha Padhyami" or the Ugadi day.

Also, the calculations of the great Indian mathematician Bhaskaracharya proclaim the Ugadi day as the beginning of the New Year.

Ugadi also heralds the season of spring, marking the beginning of new lift in nature. Flowers, fresh fruits and lush green fields dance with life. The jasmine flower spreads a sweet fragrance, and large garlands of the flower are offered to Gods in homes and temples.

It is a season for mouth-watering raw mangoes. Also, jaggery made from fresh sugarcane crop adds a unique flavour to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi.

Ugadi fills the hearts with joy and contentment. It is an occasion to welcome the new year with hope and joy, plans, wishes and resolutions, an occasion to bid farewell to the old and usher in the new.