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Thursday, March 26, 2009

:|: MHO :|: WISHING YOU ALL ADVANCE HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS HINDU NEW YEAR UGADI - 2009- 2010


"UGADI"


(Kannada: ಯುಗಾದಿ, Telugu: ఉగాదిfrom yuga+aadi, yuga is era, aadi means start. the start of an era) is the newyear's day for the people of the Deccan region of India. While the people ofKarnataka and Andhra Pradesh use the term Ugadi for this festival, thepeople of Maharashtra term the same festival,observed on the same day, Gudi Padwa. Sindhis, people from Sindh, celebrate thesame day as their New Year day Cheti Chand.

Ugadi is celebrated on a different day everyyear because the Hindu calendar is a lunisolar calendar. The Saka calendarbegins with the month of Chaitra (March/April) and Ugadi marks the first day ofthe new year.

 

TheLunar Almanac of the Deccan

The word Ugadi derives from the word Yugadi.'Yuga' is the word for 'epoch' or 'era', and 'aadi' stands for 'the beginning'.Yugadi specifically refers to the start of the age we are living in now, KaliYuga. Kali Yuga started the moment when Lord Krishna passed away. MaharshiVedavyasa describes this event with the words 'Yesmin Krishno divamvyataha,Tasmat eeva pratipannam Kaliyugam'. Some Indian historians date the beginningof Kali Yuga to 3102 BC.

The festival marks the new year day forpeople between Vishyas and Kaveri river who follow the southern Indian lunarcalendar, pervasively adhered to in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka andMaharashtra. This calendar reckons dates basedon the Salivahana era (Salivahana Saka), which begins its count from thesupposed date of the founding of the Empire by the legendary hero Shalivahana.The Satavahana king Shalivahana (also identified as Gautamiputra Satakarni) iscredited with the initiation of this era known as Shalivahana. The Salivahanaera begins its count of years from the year corresponding to 78 AD of theGregorian calendar. Thus, the year 2000 AD corresponds to the year 1922 of theSalivahana Era.

In the terminology used by this lunarcalendar (also each year is identified as per Hindu Calendar), Yugadi falls on ChaitraShudhdha Paadyami or the first day of the bright half of the Hindu month ofChaitra. This generally falls in the months of March or April of the Gregoriancalendar. In 2009, Yugadi falls on March 27th.

Telugu calendars have a sixty year cycle andstarts the new year on ugadi i.e., on Chaitra Sudhdha Paadyami. Afterthe completion of sixty years, the calendar starts anew with the first year.

Ugadi (start of New Year) is based onBhaskara II lunar calculations in 12th century. It starts on the first new moonafter Sun crosses equator from south to north on Spring Equinox. However,people celebrate Ugadi on the next morning as Hindu day starts from sun rise.

 

Observancein Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh

The Kannada and Telugu people celebrate thefestival with great fanfare; gatherings of the extended family and a sumptuousfeast are de rigueur. The day, however, begins with ritual showers (oilbath) followed by prayers, and then the eating of a specific mixture of -

·                NeemBuds/Flowers for bitterness

·                RawMango for tang

·                TamarindJuice for sourness

·                GreenChilli/Pepper for heat

·                Jaggeryfor sweetness

·                Pinchof Salt for saltiness

This mixture with all six tastes, called"Ugadi Pachhadi") in Telugu and "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 togetherand with equanimity.

Later, people traditionally gather to listento the recitation of the religious almanac (Panchangam) of the coming year, andto the general forecast of the year to come. This is the Panchanga Sravanam,an informal social function where an elderly and respected person refers to thenew almanac pertaining to the coming year and makes a general benediction toall present. The advent of television has changed this routine, especially inthe cities. Nowadays, people turn on the TV to watch broadcasts of therecitation.

Ugadi celebrations are marked by literarydiscussions, poetry recitations and recognition of authors of literary worksthrough awards and cultural programs. Recitals of classical Karnatik music anddance are held in the evenings.

 

Observancein Maharashtra

Mainarticle: Gudi Padwa

The festival is called "GudiPadwa" in Maharashtra; it heralds theadvent of new year and is one of the most auspicious days for Maharashtrians.

It is customary to erect `Gudis' on thefirst day (Padwa) of the Marathi New Year. 'Gudi' is a bamboo staff with acolored silk cloth and a garlanded goblet atop it, which symbolizes victory orachievement. Hence, this day is known as "Gudipadwa" in Maharashtra.The New Year is ushered in with the worship of the "Gudi" and thedistribution of a specific "Prasad" comprising tender neem leaves,gram-pulse and jaggery. The symbolism of tastes is the same as what isdescribed above.

Also in many Maharashtrian homes theycelebrate the occasion by making Shrikhand Puri.

 

Trivia

·                VasantaNavaratri (literally - The9-night Spring festival) starts on this day and culminates nine days later on SriRamanavami which falls on Chaitra Sudhdha Navami.

·                Theyears would have names in Sanskrit. The name of the one that starts on April6th 2008 is Sarvadhaari.The one that ended is Sarvajit.

Food and Recipes for Ugadi

The popular recipes and food menus for Ugadi in Karnataka, Andhra and Maharashtra are Holige (Poli, obbatu), Kosumbari, Payasam(Kheer), Shrikhand, Gaarelu, Uddina Vade ( Vada/Vadai) to name a few.

Here are some special Ugadi recipes; No matter whether you celebrate theUgadi or not try these dishes and let Ugadi bring happiness and glory to youall.

Holige / Puran Poli / Bobbatlu (all the three Ugadi celebrating states)

Ingredients

For filling :

For the dough:

Method

  1. Sieve all purpose flour and salt twice.Make a soft and pliable dough with water and some oil.
  2. Keep it under a wet cloth for an hour.
  3. Boil bengal gram with plenty of water. Drain it while it is still hot. Use colander for this purpose.
  4. Now add jaggery and coconut to this hot boiled bengal gram and cook on a medium flame.
  5. Keep stirring constantly so that it will not burn or stick to the vessel.
  6. The exact consistency is reached when it leaves sides of the vessel and gets thicker. Remove from the heat now. Allow it to cool and grate in a puran machine or a grinder. This helps remove the lumps.
  7. Then add cardamom powder and mix. Now Puran is ready. Make small balls and keep aside.
  8. Knead the dough with hands. Use oil as well as water for kneading. Make round balls (about 2 inch. dia.) of this dough.
  9. Roll one ball a little bit and make a flat disc.
  10. Place some puran (about twice the quantity of outer dough) in the center of this flat disc. Seal the ball tightly.
  11. Roll again to make thin puran polis of 6 to 7 inch. diameter.
    Use rice flour for smooth rolling. or use oil on a wax sheet keep the ball and roll it out.
  12. Heat a flat griddle put oil let it heat then put the poli if done on wax sheet put it up side down on the griddle.
    On a medium flame, roast one side.
    pressure little and then flip it slowly and roast another side.
  13. Do not flip the sides over and over.
    Roast till golden brown.
    Smear ghee on top and serve hot.

Khus- Khus Payasam (from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andra)

Ingredients

Method

  1. In a dry pan roast the poppy seeds just for a minute and take off from fire. Allow it to cool for 10 minutes.
  2. Now wash the seeds well for couple of times and then soak them in water for 1 to 2 hours.
  3. In a blender add the poppy seeds along with coconut and grind it into a very fine smooth paste adding little water.
  4. Take a deep bottomed vessel and bring the milk mixed with water to a boiling point.Add the sugar and mix well until it gets dissolved completely.
  5. Keep stirring the milk in between and boil for 4 to 5 minutes.Now add the paste along with cardamom powder and allow it to boil for further 5 to 8 minutes.
  6. After adding the poppy seeds paste keep stirring the content regularly so that it gets mixed with milk giving a very good flavor.
  7. You can also filter the payasam in a colander/muslin cloth to get the refained liquid but it's optional.
    For better taste use jaggery. You can adjust the proportion according to your taste.
  8. Famous dessert from karnataka & also good dessert during summer time as poppy seeds works as a cooling agent.

Gaarelu (An Andhra `vada' specialty)

Ingredients

Method

  1. Soak split bengal gram for 5 to 6 hours.
    Drain the water from it and grind it in the food processor along with ginger,salt and green chillies by adding very little water; the batter must not be too hard or too thin.
  2. The consistency must be such that gaarelu can be made.
  3. Take oil in a deep frying pan and heat it hot. in a plastic sheet, take a small amount of batter and flatten it with your fingers with a little hole in the middle.
  4. Take that from it and fry it until golden brown.

Kosambari

Ingredients

Method

  1. Soak 50 gms each of Moong and Chnna Dals separately for one hour. Grate the coconut to provide one handful of turi (grated material).
  2. Drain the water from both dals. Peel one cucumber and cut it into small pieces of the size of a pea (optional).
  3. Chop two green chilli. Keep one spoon of oil in a kadai warm it and put mustard.
  4. Wait till they split, then put the chopped green chillies, turn around and put a pinch of hing (kayam, asafetida). Put the entire thing onto the dals.
  5. Add salt to taste and then squeeze the juice of half a lime (green variety).
  6. Turn around and then put the grated coconut.
  7. Adding cucumber or the carrot is purely optional and is not in any way necessary.
  8. It does alter the taste slightly. Cucumber makes the kosumbari a little watery and therefore it must be consumed rather quickly (half to one hour).
  9. Salt tends to bring out a lot of water from cucumber.

Uddina Vada (from Karnataka)

Ingredients

Method

  1. Soak the dhal in water for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
  2. Then, wash and rinse and grind into a smooth batter along with the salt, chilly and ginger.
  3. Add minimal water. Take a small ball of batter and flatten it out in the palm of the hand or on a plastic wrap/sheet.
  4. Heat up the oil and when it is hot enough, test with a small blob of the batter. It should rise immediately to the surface of the oil.
  5. When the oil has reached such heat, add the flattened balls and fry until it turns golden brown in color.
  6. Drain the excess oil and serve hot with Sambhar or Chutney.

Mango Shrikhand (from Maharashtra)

Ingredients

Method

  1. Put the saffron in a pan, add cardamom powder and water & heat it on simmer while stirring and remove the heat.
  2. Whisk the saffron mixture into the yoghurt. Put this yoghurt mixture in a coffee filter or a strainer lined with cheese cloth and set it over a bowl.
  3. Let drain in the refrigerator for an hour.
  4. Transfer the yoghurt to a bowl and add sugar to it.
  5. Beat the yoghurt 2-3 min.
    Pour into bowls and refrigerate it until very chilled.Mean while,toast the coconut over low heat until golden.
  6. Serve the shrikhand topped with mango cut into thin slices and coconut.

 Karanji or Karjikaai

 This is prepared in Karnataka,in which instead of steaming they fry it. They call it by a special name called`Karjikaai'; It resembles Samosa but tastewise, it is sweet.

Karanji is a similar sweet knownonly by a different name in Maharashtra.

The Coconut and Cardamom stuffing give it a unique taste. It is preparedduring Southern India festivals like Ugadi, Deepavaliand Ganesha Chathurthi.

You will need:

Method:

 

 

 :)FROM YOUR FRIEND LEENA BANGALORE:)

HAPPY FESTIVAL



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