HYDERABAD, INDIA, March 17, 2007: This year, Telugu New Year, Ugadi, is mired in controversy with some religious heads, astrologers and even political parties warning the Andhra Pradesh government that celebrating it on Monday would spell doom for the state. A number of Agama religious schools say that Ugadi on Monday would be inauspicious as it is an amavasya day (new moon day) and also coincides with a solar eclipse.
A general holiday had been declared on Monday. But following criticism from various quarters, the government also announced an optional holiday on March 20, the day when some groups want to celebrate Ugadi. The government claims that it declared Ugadi on Monday on the basis of opinion expressed by 33 out of 39 Agama schools. It says that experts consulted by the government argued that the solar eclipse would end by 7:50 am and hence there was no harm in celebrating the festival on that day.
Every year, the government on the occasion of Ugadi organizes an official function, panchangna sarvanam, where an agama pundit reads out the religious almanac of the coming year and makes a general forecast. The Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues attend this traditional function.
Religious bodies, such as the Andhra Pradesh Brahmana Sevasanga Samakhya, have criticized the government for the move. The state BJP president Bandaru Dattatreya alleged that the government made a unilateral announcement that the festival would be celebrated on Tuesday. “The government is trying to drive a wedge between the heads of various mutts, peethams and dharmacharyas,” he said.