Gudhi Padava and it’s scientific importance!!
Gudhi Padava :-
Gudhi Padava is the Sanskrit name for Chaitra shukla pratipada. It is celebrated on the first day of the month of Chaitra to mark the beginning of the New year according to the Hindu calendar. The word Padava is derived from the Sanskrit word Pratipada for first day after no moon day ( Amavasya) This day is also celebrated as New Year Day. Gudhi padava is one of the three and a half auspicious days (Muhurta) ie Akshay trutiya, Dasera and Gudhi padava.
Many traditional hindu families decorate their house with rangolies and garlands of flowers( toran) on the door way. The main attraction is , every home has a Gudhi which is a long clean bamboo stick which has on its upper end a silk cloth and a silver pot( kalash) . It is decorated with flowers with application of auspicious turmeric and kumkum and kept in front of the house since it welcomes the entire pantheon of Gods and Goddess into the house. Garlands of sweet sugary batasse, neem leaves and flower garlands are tied onto the bamboo stick around the silver pot( kalash). Worship of Gudhi is supposed to drive away the evil from the house and expected to usher in prosperity and good fortune.
Ayurvedic scientific significance of Gudhi padava tradition:
According to Ayurveda, this is the time of the year when the Kapha dosha accumulated in our body starts to get out of our body due to the sun’s heat and starts to create new problems in our body.
During winter we tend to consume lot of fresh fruits and huge amount of sweets resulting in storage of large amount of kapha dosha in the body. Thus to fight the changes in our body, the custom of eating bitter Neem is practised.
Neem has blood purifying action, immunity building capacity but along with this it also fights the excess Kapha in our system. The sugary battase though sweet, have its own value for heating our internal system thus helping the action of Neem to remove excess Kapha dosha from our system. Also during whole month of Chaitra , Ayurveda suggests to consume Neem juice as during this season there is increased Pitta dosha which results in blood or skin diseases.
Neha Abhyankar
Sharangdhar
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