Festivals of Andhra Pradesh

In short: Sankranti, Ugadi, Rottela Panduga and the Andhra Pradesh festival calendar.

Andhra Pradesh Culture › Festivals & Jataras · 36 min read · Free to read · English & Telugu

Bilingual study notes for the Andhra Pradesh Police SI & Constable exams (SLPRB AP) by AP Police Hub, a product of Anvil Academy.

The festival year of the Telugu land — led by the great four-day harvest festival of Sankranti and the New Year of Ugadi, the Sita Rama Kalyanam of Vontimitta, the temple months of Karthika and Dhanurmasa (Vaikunta Ekadasi at Tirumala), the goddess jataras of Vijayawada and Vizianagaram, and the shared Christian and Muslim festivals — with Telangana's Bathukamma and Bonalu kept clearly apart.

1. The Festival Calendar of Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh keeps time by the Telugu lunisolar (Chandramana) calendar, whose year opens with Ugadi in spring and turns through a cycle of harvest, temple and village festivals. The one great solar festival is Sankranti, fixed to the sun's entry into Makara (Capricorn) around 14 January; almost all the rest are lunar, so their English dates shift each year. The festivals fall into four broad families — the harvest and seasonal (Sankranti, Ugadi), the temple and deity festivals (Sri Rama Navami, Vinayaka Chavithi, Dasara, Sivaratri, Vaikunta Ekadasi), the women's vratams (Atla Taddi, Varalakshmi Vratam, Nagula Chavithi), and the festivals of other faiths (Christmas; Ramzan, Bakrid, Muharram).

2. Sankranti — the Great Four-Day Harvest Festival

Makara Sankranti is the biggest festival of Andhra Pradesh — a joyous harvest festival (pedda panduga) that brings the whole family back to the village. Unlike most Telugu festivals it is solar, celebrated over four days in the month of *Pushya* (mid-January), when the newly harvested grain fills the granaries. Homes are washed and their forecourts drawn each dawn with muggulu (rangoli) of rice flour, topped with gobbemmalu (dung-flower cones) and marigold.

The four days

Bhogi — Day 1. Before dawn people light the Bhogi mantalu — a bonfire of old wood and unwanted things — to burn away the old and welcome the new. In the evening children are showered with Bhogi pallu (regi/jujube fruit mixed with coins, petals and sugarcane bits) for their protection and long life.
Makara Sankranti — Day 2, the main day. The sun enters Makara rasi and begins its northward journey (Uttarayanam). People wear new clothes, cook pongali and sweets, honour ancestors (pitru tarpanam) and share the harvest — the most auspicious day of the four.
Kanuma — Day 3, the farmer's own day — dedicated to the cattle and farm animals that made the harvest possible. Bulls and cows are washed, painted and worshipped; it is the day of the Konaseema Prabhala Teertham (see below).
Mukkanuma — Day 4, a day of feasting, outings and (for non-vegetarian families) meat dishes; kites, village games and the season's cock-fights of coastal Andhra fall around it.

3. Ugadi — the Telugu New Year

Ugadi (*Yuga* + *aadi* = 'the beginning of an age') is the Telugu New Year, falling on the first day (Padyami) of the bright fortnight of Chaitra (March–April), the start of the spring month *Vasanta*. Homes are cleaned and hung with fresh mango-leaf toranams, and each new *samvatsara* (one of the sixty named years) begins.

Ugadi Pachadi — the six tastes — The signature dish is the Ugadi pachadi, blending six tastes that stand for the six shades of life: jaggery (sweet — happiness), raw tamarind (sour — challenge), salt (fear), neem flowers (bitter — sorrow), raw mango (tangy — surprise) and green chilli/pepper (spicy — anger). Eating them together teaches acceptance of all of life.
Panchanga Sravanam — In temples and homes a priest or elder reads the new year's panchangam — the Panchanga Sravanam — foretelling rains, harvest and fortunes for the twelve rasis.
Kavi Sammelanam — Ugadi is a great literary day — a Kavi Sammelanam (gathering of poets) and cultural programmes celebrate the Telugu language and the season.

4. Sri Rama Navami — the Sita Rama Kalyanam

Sri Rama Navami, on the ninth day (Navami) of Chaitra, celebrates the birth of Sri Rama. Its heart in the Telugu country is the Sita Rama Kalyanam — the ceremonial re-enactment of the wedding of Rama and Sita — performed in Rama temples everywhere, with panakam (jaggery water), vadapappu (soaked moong) and buttermilk distributed to beat the summer heat.

5. Vinayaka Chavithi & Dasara (Navaratri)

Vinayaka Chavithi (Ganesh Chaturthi), on the fourth day of *Bhadrapada* (Aug–Sept), honours Lord Ganesha. Clay idols are installed in homes and grand community pandals for a few days of worship — the priest reads the Vinayaka Vratha Katha — and end in the nimajjanam (immersion), a huge public procession in cities such as Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.

Dasara (Navaratri) — 'nine nights' of goddess worship in *Ashwayuja* (Sept–Oct) ending on Vijayadashami — celebrates Durga's victory over evil. In Andhra it centres on two great shrines.

Kanaka Durga, Vijayawada — The Kanaka Durga temple on Indrakeeladri hill by the Krishna is Andhra's premier Navaratri shrine, where the goddess is adorned in a different alankaram each of the nine days (Bala Tripura Sundari, Gayatri, Annapurna, Mahalakshmi, Saraswati, Lalita, Durga, Mahishasura Mardini, Raja Rajeswari).
Sirimanotsavam, Vizianagaram — On the first Tuesday after Vijayadashami, Vizianagaram honours its village goddess Pydithalli Ammavaru with the Sirimanotsavam — the priest rides the tip of a long, swaying sirimanu (a tall areca pole) above the crowd. It is one of Uttarandhra's largest jataras (lakhs of devotees).

6. The Temple Months — Sivaratri, Karthika & Vaikunta Ekadasi

A large part of the AP festival year is temple-centred, drawing lakhs of pilgrims to the state's great Saiva and Vaishnava shrines.

Maha Sivaratri — The 'great night of Shiva' in *Magha/Phalguna* (Feb–Mar) is kept with fasting and night-long vigil (jagarana). The largest AP crowds gather at Srisailam (Mallikarjuna, a Jyotirlinga), Srikalahasti (the Vayu-linga) and the Kotappakonda hill (Trikoteswara, Palnadu), famed for its glittering Prabhalu (illuminated tall chariots).
Karthika Masam — The holy lunar month of *Karthika* (Oct–Nov) is the greatest month for Shiva and Vishnu worship: devotees light rows of karthika deepam lamps, take ritual river baths, fast on Mondays, and worship the tulasi and the usiri (amla) tree, culminating on Karthika Pournami.
Vaikunta Ekadasi — The Shukla Ekadasi of Dhanurmasa (Margasira, Dec–Jan) is Vaikunta Ekadasi, the most sacred Vaishnava day. At Tirumala the northern Vaikunta Dwaram — a passage encircling the sanctum, shut all year — is opened, and pilgrims pass through it believing it grants moksha.

7. Deepavali, Nagula Chavithi & the Women's Vratams

Deepavali (Diwali), the festival of lights on the *Amavasya* of *Ashwayuja* (Oct–Nov), marks the triumph of light over darkness — celebrated with rows of lamps, Lakshmi Puja and firecrackers, and (as in the Deccan) linked to Krishna's slaying of Narakasura. Around it cluster several vratams especially dear to women.

Atla Taddi — A distinctively Telugu women's festival on the Ashwayuja Bahula Tadiya (third day after the full moon, Sept–Oct) — often called the 'Andhra Karva Chauth'. Married women fast for their husbands' long life and unmarried girls for a good groom, worship Goddess Gauri, offer atlu (dosas), view the moon, swing on *uyyala* and sing Atla Taddi paatalu.
Nagula Chavithi — On the fourth day after Deepavali, families worship the serpent god (Naga Devata) at ant-hills (*puttalu*) and Subrahmanya shrines, offering milk and eggs and praying for the family's welfare and freedom from *sarpa dosham*.
Varalakshmi Vratam — On the Friday before the full moon of *Sravana* (Jul–Aug), married women worship Goddess Varalakshmi (the boon-granting form of Lakshmi) for prosperity and family well-being.

8. Festivals of the Christian & Muslim Communities

Andhra Pradesh's festival life is not Hindu alone — its sizeable Christian and Muslim communities keep their own great festivals, and one of them is a celebrated symbol of inter-faith harmony.

Christmas (25 December) — The birth of Jesus Christ, kept with midnight Mass, carols, stars and cribs across the Christian belt of coastal and Rayalaseema AP; Good Friday and Easter are the other major days.
Ramzan, Bakrid & Muharram — Ramzan (Eid-ul-Fitr) ends the month-long fast of Ramadan; Bakrid (Eid-ul-Adha) is the festival of sacrifice; and Muharram commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Hussain. All follow the Islamic lunar calendar, so they move earlier by about eleven days each year.

9. Tribal & Harvest Festivals — and What Belongs to Telangana

The tribes of the Eastern Ghats agency (Koya, Konda Dora, Savara, Bagata and others) keep their own seasonal harvest, sowing and hunting festivals tied to the forest and the farming year, worshipping village and nature deities with drums and the Dhimsa dance. These are community festivals rather than fixed state-wide dates.

10. At a Glance — Quick Revision

The whole festival calendar in one table — festival, its Telugu-calendar month, and the point most likely to be asked.

AP festivals — month & significance
Festival	Month (Telugu / Gregorian)	Significance / anchor
Sankranti	Pushya / ~14 Jan (solar)	Biggest AP festival; 4 days (Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma, Mukkanuma)
Ugadi	Chaitra Padyami / Mar–Apr	Telugu New Year; six-taste pachadi; Panchanga Sravanam
Sri Rama Navami	Chaitra Navami / Mar–Apr	Sita Rama Kalyanam; AP state venue = Vontimitta (Kadapa)
Vinayaka Chavithi	Bhadrapada / Aug–Sep	Ganesha; pandals & nimajjanam
Dasara / Navaratri	Ashwayuja / Sep–Oct	Kanaka Durga (Vijayawada); Sirimanotsavam (Vizianagaram)
Maha Sivaratri	Magha–Phalguna / Feb–Mar	Srisailam, Srikalahasti, Kotappakonda (Prabhalu)
Vaikunta Ekadasi	Dhanurmasa / Dec–Jan	Tirumala Vaikunta Dwaram opened
Karthika Masam	Karthika / Oct–Nov	Month of lamps; Karthika Pournami
Atla Taddi	Ashwayuja Bahula Tadiya / Sep–Oct	Women's fast (Gauri); 'Andhra Karva Chauth'
Rottela Panduga	Muharram (Islamic)	Inter-faith fair, Bara Shaheed Dargah, Nellore