‘Panchanga Sravanam’ marks Ugadi celebrations

Visakhapatnam celebrated Ugadi with Panchanga Sravanam, cultural events, and auspicious predictions for a prosperous new year.

A priest reads out the ‘Panchangam’ (Hindu almanac) to devotees at a temple in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. | Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

The city was immersed in a blend of spiritual fervour and traditional gaiety on Thursday as residents celebrated the Telugu New Year, Ugadi, marking the beginning of the Paraabhava Nama Samvatsaram.

The streets were adorned with colourful rangolis and fresh mango leaf `thoranams’, signalling the arrival of the 40th year in the 60-year lunar cycle.

Families gathered to prepare the symbolic Ugadi pacchadi, a unique concoction of six tastes representing the various emotions of life, emphasising the need to accept joy and sorrow with equanimity in the coming year.

The official district-level celebrations were held at the VMRDA Children’s Arena in Siripuram, where Bheemili MLA Ganta Srinivasa Rao and District Collector M.N. Harendhira Prasad among others joined citizens for the traditional Panchanga Sravanam.

During the reading of the almanac, vedic pundits predicted a period of mixed results for the region, noting that while the year’s name, ‘Paraabhava’, traditionally suggests the subduing of ego, it also points toward significant industrial and infrastructural breakthroughs for Andhra Pradesh.