'Ugadi Pachadi', a dish that combines six different tastes, is prepared for which festival?

Ugadi Pachadi is a special dish prepared for Ugadi, the New Year festival of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka (where it is called Yugadi). It combines six different tastes (shadruchulu), and it symbolises the idea that life is a mixture of different experiences, which should all be accepted with equanimity in the new year.

The six ingredients of Ugadi Pachadi and the experiences they represent are:

• Neem flowers (bitter): sadness and difficulties.
• Jaggery and ripe banana (sweet): happiness.
• Raw mango (tangy): surprises and new challenges.
• Tamarind juice (sour): disgust or unpleasant situations.
• Green chilli or pepper (hot): anger.
• Salt (salty): fear or the interest and spice of life.
• People eat this dish first thing on Ugadi morning, after bathing and offering prayers.

Ugadi is celebrated on the first day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra (March-April), the same day as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra. The name comes from "yuga" (era) and "adi" (beginning), meaning the beginning of a new age. According to legend, Lord Brahma began the creation of the universe on this day. On Ugadi, people wake up early, take an oil bath, clean their homes, decorate their doorways with mango leaves (toranalu) and rangoli, wear new clothes and visit temples. In the evening, people gather to listen to the "Panchanga Sravanam", the reading of the new almanac by a priest, which predicts the events of the coming year, such as rainfall and harvest. Special dishes such as obbattu (holige), a sweet flatbread, are also prepared. In Karnataka, people eat "bevu-bella", a mixture of neem and jaggery.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Onam is the harvest festival of Kerala, celebrated with the Onasadya feast.
• ✗Pongal is the harvest festival of Tamil Nadu, named after the dish of boiled rice.
• ✗Vishu is the New Year of Kerala, celebrated with the Vishukkani.