Chaitra Navratri’s Ghatasthapana and nine-day puja follow the same steps as Sharad Navratri; see the Navratri puja vidhi article for the full sequence. This one covers what’s distinct to Chaitra Navratri.
Gudi Padwa
In Maharashtra and nearby regions, a gudi (a silk cloth over a bamboo stick, with neem leaves and a copper pot) is hoisted at the main door on this day, welcoming the new year.
Nine days of Ramayana reading
Many families do a continuous reading of the Ramcharitmanas or Ramayana across the nine days of Chaitra Navratri, completing it on Ram Navami.
Neem and jaggery prasad
Eating a mix of neem leaves, jaggery and tamarind on the year’s first day is traditional, taken as a symbol of accepting life’s bitter and sweet in equal measure.
Putting the gudi together
The steps are simple but the order matters to most families who’ve done it for generations. Start with a fresh bamboo stick, long enough to clear the roofline of the doorway. Drape a new silk or zari cloth over the top few inches, traditionally yellow, red or orange rather than any colour on hand. Tie a garland of sugar crystals, called gathi, just below the cloth, along with a few sprigs of neem leaves and mango leaves. An inverted copper or silver kalash (a small pot) sits on the very top, its mouth facing down, completing the shape.
The gudi is then hoisted at a visible angle from the main window or doorway, facing the street rather than straight up, so neighbours and passers-by can see it. It stays up through the day and comes down at sunset, not left overnight. In apartment buildings where there’s no traditional doorway to work with, families now hoist a smaller version from a balcony railing, keeping the same components at a scaled-down size.
Most households do an oil bath, abhyanga snan, before sunrise on this day, well before the gudi goes up, since starting the new year clean is treated as its own small ritual separate from the hoisting itself. The actual hoisting is usually done in the brahma muhurat or shortly after sunrise, on the reasoning that welcoming the new year should happen as early in the day as the household can manage, not as an afternoon afterthought once everyone’s already at work or school.
The same day, different names
Chaitra Pratipada isn’t only a Maharashtrian observance. In Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka the identical day is celebrated as Ugadi, and the signature dish there is Ugadi pachadi, a mix carrying six tastes in one bowl: neem for bitter, jaggery for sweet, tamarind for sour, raw mango for tang, a green chili for heat, and a pinch of salt. The idea is the same one behind the Maharashtrian neem-jaggery prasad, that the new year arrives with a mix of experiences and you eat that truth rather than just talk about it.
Sindhi families mark the same date as Cheti Chand, honouring Jhulelal, and the puja there centers on Bahirana Sahib, a small water vessel with a lit lamp, rather than a gudi at the door. If you’ve married into a family that follows a different regional custom than the one you grew up with, it’s worth asking what their specific version looks like rather than assuming yours is universal. Same lunar day, three distinct sets of customs, all pointing at the same new year.