HAPPY UGADI

This is not telugu ugAdi. It is Hindu lunar new year. The first day after the new moon nearest to the vernal equinox is the new year's day according to this calendar. It is mainly followed in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and to some extent in Tamil Nadu. Since it depends on the phases of the moon, it occurs anywhere between Mar 14 to Apr 14. This year it falls on Mar 16, quite early. There may be a price to pay somewhere along the line in the form of an adhika mAsa (an extra intercalating month :-) Regards! - mOhana

Hi mohana Thankx for your wishes.HAPPY UGADI TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.

Judy thank u

Thank you Judy Madam

Yum!

Thanks a lot and wish you and all the ikolam members a very happy new year ...but we are missing our favorite sweet Obbattu/ hOLige here :)

Judy thanks a lot for your wishes and also i take this opportunity to wish all the members of ikolam a very happy Ugadhi.

Thank you for your wishes.

The English term for adhika mAsa is intercalating month. The world's three major religions - Islam, Hinduism and Judaism - follow a lunar calendar. There are about 365 1/4 days in a solar year. The lunar month has about 29 1/2 days. Thus the lunar year is shorter than the solar year. Most of the festivals follow the lunar year whereas the seasons follow the solar year. Unless one does a correction, the lunar new year will recede the solar one every year by about ten days. In fact, the Islamic calendar does not apply any correction and hence the month of Ramdan won't occur at the same time or season every year. The Hindu and the Jewish (their new year coincides with the autumnal equinox) calendars do apply the correction. Actually after about every 32 1/2 months, this correction takes place. In the south Indian lunar calendar the extra month occurs when there are two new moons in one solar month. This year it happens in the mEsha month. So we have this year first chaitra, then adhika vaiSAkha and afterward the nija vaiSAkha. Religious ceremonies for the dead are performed during both the months. That is why we have a proverb which goes something like this - There is an extra month during the famine! But this extra month is chaitra for the north Indians as their month starts with full moon, not new moon as in the south. In fact the season of spring in ancient India was the last season, not the first season as it is today. Do you know, the chapter on spring (vasanta) is the last chapter in kAlidAsa's RtusaMhAra whereas the summer (grIshma) is the first chapter. In a similar manner when two full moons occur in the same calendar month, I think the first one is called the blue moon, a rare event or a special event. Regards! - mOhana

Blue moon is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons or the second full moon in a calendar month and not as stated in the earlier message. Regards! - mOhana

Forgot to mention one more thing. At one time (in the 40's or so) in Bombay, some landlords used to collect rents from one new moon to the next new moon (amAvAsya to amAvAsya). That means every three years they get an extra month's rent for adhika mAsa :-) Regards! - mOhana

One more thing (has anybody reading these notes?). Just like adhika mAsa, there is kshaya mAsa also. That means there will be only 11 months in the year. In such a case, it will have the name of both the months. The last such one occurred in 1983, it seems. Regards! - mOhana