When is Cheti Chand?
This regional holiday is the Sindhi New Year and is celebrated on the second day in the Sindhi month of Chet.
This means it usually falls in late March or early April in the Gregorian calendar and generally takes place on the same day as Gudi Padwa in Maharashtra and Ugadi, which is celebrated as the Telugu and Kannada New Year in the Deccan region of India.
Traditions of Cheti Chand
The Cheti Chand festival marks the arrival of Spring and harvest and the start of Hindu New Year for Sindhi Hindus. It is seen as an auspicious day for business as it also marks the start of the new financial year.
However, it also marks the birthday of Uderolal in the year 1007, after the Sindhis prayed to Varuna, the god of the Sindhu river, to save them from the persecution by a despotic ruler named Mirkhshah. Uderolal took the form of a warrior and old man, called Jhulelal, who convinced Mirkhshah that Muslims and Hindus deserve the same religious freedoms.
Jhulelal became the key deity of the Sindhi people, and is as a bearded figure holding a book and a mala (string of beads) sitting on a fish. He is also revered by Sufi Muslims, who associate him with Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a Sufi saint.
The festival of Cheti Chand is celebrated with fairs, feasts and processions of icons of Jhulelal and other Hindu deities. It is also celebrated by the Sindhi dispora around the world.
