SANVSAR PADVO - Konkani New Year

Sanvsar Padvo also called as Samsar / Sansar / Samvatsar Padvo in different regions of Konkan

It is celebrated on the first day, Prathama of the Shukla paksha in Chaitramasa, to mark the beginning of the New year. Chaitramasa is the first month in the Lunar calender.

Konkanis generally refer to the day as संसार पाडवो (sanvsar padvo), samsar being a corruption of the word संवत्सर (samvatsar). Basically it is a NEW YEAR DAY.

Konkani community celebrates the first day of the first month of the Lunar year, that is being followed by the community. It is a NEW YEAR DAY for Konkanies and is called Samsarpadavo/Samvatsara Prathama. The community follows the Lunar calender and Chaitramasa is the first month of the year. Hence the Samsarpadavo is celebrated on Prathama of the shuklapaksha in Chaitramasa. The day is celebrated with great piety and enthusiasm.

The celebration starts with the cleaning of the house, puja room(Koodi),  the Shribhaandam inside the puja room, tulsi platform and surroundings, front courtyard , bathroom etc and decorated with  garlands made of mango leaves and flower. All the deepams are well cleaned. Everybody takes oil bath. The men and the youth(those who have been through the thread ceremony) do the naamadhaaran and nityakarma. The whole family members wear new clothes. The women wear their ornaments too. Rangoli is done with wet rice flour, in the front courtyard, Tulsi platform and all the door entrances.

Then the sthaanadeepam in Vasaro, room just on the right side of the Koodi(puja room)  is lighted by the lady of the house.Then other deepams are lighted in front of the diety. The sthaana deepam(divo) is hung on the right side  in the room called Vassaro, just outside the puja room.The family members who do the  puja as per the tradition and culture, enter the pooja room through the entrance near the sthaana deepam, unlike the others, who normally enter from the front door.The door from vassaro to koodi is believed to be a sanctified place in Konkani community and is believed to be Lakshmi nivaasasthaan. Hence the location of sthaana deepam in this premises. The sthaana deepam also gets the proper rituals while fixing it.

The family purohit comes and sits on a raised wooden plank(maanaayi) and reads the forecast/predictions for the forthcoming year from the Panchaangam, specially prepared for the occasion. The panchaangam gives the year’s forecast/predictions based on the positions of the various planets on crop pattern, rainfall, inflation, debilitating occurrences like famine, earthquakes, contageous diseases, and any other natural calamities, etc and happy occurrences like improvement in the quality of life, prosperity, increase in the cropping pattern and the yields, health in general, etc. In short, it predicts on everything that touches our day-to-day life. The purohit reads everything in detail. All family members sit in front of the purohit and hear the predictions seriously and patiently. The belief as per the Brahmakalpa is that those who hear the predictions patiently will not suffer the bad effects of the planets. After the reading, dakshina is given by the head of the family to the main purohit and all other purohits present and gets the blessings from them.

All the members of the house will receive coins as gifts

All members of the community go to the temple for God’s blessings. Each family take sugar and neem leaves for samarpanam. The temple purohit, after doing the puja, return them as neivedhyam. Then, dakshina is given to the main purohit and other temple brahmanas. As per Brahmakalpa, the sweet cum bitter prasadam signifies it as the good and bad part of the life and has to be dealt with in equanimity, as consuming of the neivedhyam/prasadam. This prasadam is also a good medicine for general health.

After Devadarshanam, people return to their homes. Now it is time for a sumptuous lunch. On all konkani festival days, a few special food items are invariably prepared. These items differ for every festival. For Samsaarpadavo(New Year Day), the main special items are the hittu, and kelya ambat, apart from the other normal food preparations like papad, kelya phaadi(thick banana chips), sukkein(dry curry), adgai(pickle), allein(ginger chutney), alchakeri, valval, ghassi(all the three curries with gavy), thoy(dal), paysu(kheer), etc.  The feast start with the serving of Hittu first. The recipes of all these items are detailed in PRABHASKITCHEN(They are also linked for easy reference). The food is to be served on plantain leaves.

The newly married couple(of daughters married during the previous year) are to be invited for the festival. After the lunch, they are made to sit on a wooden plank in the puja room. The deepam is lighted. New clothes, some money covered in the betel leaf and sweets are given to the couple. Akshata is put on their heads as blessings.

In  Konkani temples, thailabhishekam(oil abhishekam) is done for the Utsavamurthis. After the puja, the deities are taken in a palanquin around the temple with the accompaniment of nadaswaram.There will be brahmana samaradhana(bhojanam in temple)  after the noon puja.

In the evening, panchaaga paarayanam is done by the temple tantri for the benefit of all the community members. The panchaangam gives the year’s forecast/predictions based on the positions of the various planets on crop pattern, rainfall, inflation, debilitating occurrences like famine, earthquakes, contageous diseases, and any other natural calamities, etc and happy occurrences like improvement in the quality of life, prosperity, increase in the cropping pattern and the yields, health in general, etc. In short, it predicts on everything that touches the community’s  day-to-day life, including any likely war and the chances of winning or defeat in the same, country’s external relations, export/import, etc. All community members will gather in the temple to hear the panchaanga phalam(forecast/predictions).