According to Hindu New Year or Vikram Samvat, the month of Chaitra (usually falls between the months of March and April) marks the New year or first month of Hindu calendar. Every year, the festival is celebrated with a lot of zeal and enthusiasm but is going to be a low key affair this year as the country is under a complete lockdown due to the novel Coronavirus outbreak.
PM Modi announced a lockdown for 21 days, to prevent the deadly virus from spreading further. Barring essential commodities, everything else will be shut down until April 14, 2020.
On Wednesday, as the Hindu New Year begins, the entire country is celebrating Chaitra Navratri, the nine-day long festival during which the nine incarnations of Goddess Durga is worshipped.
In India, most of the communities follow Hindu calendar and celebrate it. This year, it is celebrated on March 25th. On this day, the sun is found to be at the point above the intersection of the equator and the meridians.
In India, people from different communities celebrate it in different ways. In Maharashtra, Gudi Padwa is celebrated as the traditional new year for Maharashtrians. The same festival, known as Ugadi is celebrated in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
The great king of Ujjain, Vikramaditya who defeated the enemies of the country, first established the new Hindu year.