HINDUS all over the world celebrate their individual New Year based on their ethnic origins, in south India, we call it “Varsha Pirapu” or simply put the birth of the New Year, which usually significantly falls on the 14th or 15th of April and is also known as the first day of the ‘Chithirai’ month.
It has a significance which I discovered later in my life, with the planetary positions, as it concurs with the Sun’s transit to the star of Aries and opens up an array of possibilities for the world and individual horoscopes. Thus, it is a much-celebrated event in temples around south India and many a time coincides with other New Years’ in different parts of India from the Sikhs, to the Telugus, to the Maratis, Malayalees in Kerala and other Indian states as well.
My mother would get very busy during this time, imploring all of us to clear up our rooms and getting us to sweep and clean, while the helper who came daily would mop the house. We would go to the Indian shops in my hometown of Melaka and shop for new brightly coloured clothes. It was an exciting time as my father would fulfil his role of buying all the right items ranging from fruits for the altar, vegetables to be cooked on the day for lunch, as generally Tamils are vegetarian on the day of the Tamil New Year which in falls on April 14 this year.
My father would ensure the altar items would be ready, including fruits and flower decorations. As it was an auspicious occasion, all of us after a good bath – some would partake of an oil bath – but my mother never really insisted on that but she would demand that we were reasonably clean and dressed up with our new clothes, the girls with 'pottus’, i.e. the decorative dots of colour that stood out on our foreheads as well as some colourful bangles to go along with our traditional clothes.
Then, all dressed up we would proceed to the altar and say our prayers with our parents and the other significant aspect was the giving out of the Indian version of ‘angpows’ to the unmarried children, usually placed by my father on the betel nut leaves. This was the best part for the young children as it meant freedom to buy sweets and chocolates later. All of us would look at each other’s angpow to ensure equality and then we would also pay a short visit to the temple, which would resound with the sound of the traditional instruments used during these occasions.
A close friend of my family, a Hindu priest, S. Janardhan, once explained to me that Tamilians generally follow what is known as the 'Tamil Panchangam' (Tamil Calendar) and so we are unique in the sense that our date for the Tamil New Year is calculated based on this 'Panchangam.'
“At the time of the birth of the Tamil New Year, all planets shift and change and this affects many aspects of how the world is going to be for the next one year, the politics of each country, the trouble spots, the environment and even the onset of new diseases,” said Janardhan, during his discussions with me on the significance of the change of planetary positions.
Thus, the so-called thread of auspiciousness remains the same for all those celebrating their New Year in different parts of India, as the planets move into various positions during the birth of the New Year.
In fact, most temples in south India and Malaysia will display on a board in the temple ground the various Tamil Zodiac signs and their standing, from good to moderate to bad depending on how they are positioned for the New Year.
So here’s wishing all those who celebrate, a happy Tamil New Year for today. – The Vibes, April 14, 2021
