Chaitra Shukla Pratipada, the first day of the bright half of the month of Chaitra, opens the Hindu lunar year in much of India. It is kept as Ugadi in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra, and it begins the nine nights of Chaitra Navratri, when the Goddess is worshipped. On this day many families clean the home, prepare special foods and hear the year’s panchang read.
The date rule is simple to state: the festival falls on the civil day on which Pratipada is in force at sunrise. Regional calendars can refine that, especially where the tithi is short or spans two sunrises, so in some years Ugadi or Gudi Padwa can be kept a day apart from the start of Navratri. The table shows one date for all three and adds a note in the timing column if a city lists them on different days. Navratri also begins with Ghatasthapana, the installing of the sacred pot, which is done in the first part of the day while Pratipada lasts. The muhurat shown is that window for each city.
Why do cities differ? Pratipada starts and ends at the same instant worldwide, but sunrise is at a different clock time in each city. A tithi that ends shortly before sunrise in one city is still running at sunrise a few hours later in another, and that can move the festival by a day. Daylight saving changes the clock times but not the dates.
A calm note: the start of a year is a good moment to begin gently, with a clean home and a simple puja. If your family follows a regional calendar that names a different day, follow it. This page uses the lunar (amanta) month system shown by most widely used panchangs.