Gatari Amavasya Maharashtra 11 August 2018

Gatari Amavasya date is 11 Aug 2018. Ashad Amavasya as per Marathi Calendar. Gatari is a Marathi regional festival celebrated especially in Maharashtra.

Gatari Amavasya aka Ashada Amavasya and Celebrations in Maharashtra

Gatari Amavasya falls on the Ashada Amavasya evening and holds great significance to Hindus in Maharashtra.

Gatari Amavasya is celebrated on the No Moon day in the ashada month of the Marathi calendar.

Usually Gatari Amavasya or Ashada Amavasya dates will come the month of July or August each year.

It denotes the beginning of the auspicious month of Shravan for Hindus / Maharashtrians.

Gatari means a celebration, it is the last day to have non-veg food! which means after the Gatari Amavasya day, Hindu devotees abstain from non-vegetarian food and alcohol for the Sharavan month, or even the Chaturmas.

Due to this tons of Non-veg like chicken, mutton, fish gets consumed all over the state in a single day, as well as alcoholic drinks are consumed in large quantity on this day!

What is meaning of Gatari?

Well Gatari literally means ‘gutter’ in Marathi language.

I am not sure but, mostly it might be because people used to drink lot of liquor and fall into gutter!  mean full enjoyment!! to the bottom of heart!!! However now a days you will not see such thing but surely celebrations and festival of non-veg food.

Festival of Food!

Yes, practically today, Gatari Amavasya is celebrated as a non-veg festival all over Maharashtra.

You will see group of people together celebrating & partying the night away with their friends.

Many of the big hotels, liquor bars and restaurants all over Maharashtra will have GATARI SPECIAL OFFERS.

Scientific reasons:

First reason is health of persons, Second reason is this is season for reproduction of species like Fish in sea.

Mostly the reason of celebrations is related to the seasons in Maharaashtra, our ancestors might have purposefully marked this day as last day of eating non-vegetarian food. As it is beginning of Shravan month, which is generally peak monsoon season, which means your digestion powers are working at the lowest efficiency, which means if you eat heavy non-veg food mostly you will get into stomach trouble. So controlling the diet in a religious manner is quiet easy and respected all over at the same time.

Also the month of Shravan has many more Puja & rituals celebrations, which keeps you engaged in religious manner so keeping away from non-veg food. And as per Hindu religion, eating non-veg and drinking alcohol is prohibited during  rituals and puja.

So it allows people to celebrate the last day, after which they are not going to have any non-veg food! So why not to enjoy having different varieties of non-veg food with drinks too. Yes, its Party time indeed!!

What do other states in India do on Gatari Amavasya?

Gatari Amavasya is also observed as Bheemana Amavasya in Karnataka and Chukkala Amavasya in Andhra Pradesh.

Jyotir Bheemeshwar Vrata and Pathi Sanjivani Vrata is observed on Bheemana Amavasy day in Karnataka. Telugu people observe Ashada Amavasya as Chukkala Amavasya vratham.

Ashada Amavasya is celebrated as Hariyali Amavas in Gujarat. In other states like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, on this Sawan Amavasya, Hariyali Amavasya iscelebrated. Fairs are organised in Udaipur, Rajsamand and some more towns of Rajasthan on Hariyali Amavasya.

Gatari Amavasya information in Marathi Language

श्रावण महिन्याच्या अगोदर येणाऱ्या अमावास्येला म्हणजे आषाढी अमावास्येला दिव्याची अमावस्या म्हणतात.

दिव्याची अमावस्या कशी साजिरी करावी ?

या दिवशी घरातले सर्व दिवे, कंदील, निरांजने, समया वगैरे स्वच्छ करावे.

त्यानंतर त्यांची पूजा करावी. मग गूळ घालून कणकेचे उकडलेले दिवे किंवा पुरण घालून केलेली धिंडे असे गोडधोड करून नैवेद्य दाखवावा. तसेच अशा एका कणकेच्या दिव्यामध्ये तुपाची वात ठेवून तो देवापुढे ठेवावी.

गटारी अमावस्या

दिव्याची अमावास्येचं आपलं महत्त्व असलं तरी आजकाल बरेच लोकं ही अमावस्या गटारी अमावस्या म्हणून साजिरी करतात.

श्रावण महिन्यात अनेक लोकं मांस, मद्य व इतर अनेक पदार्थांचे सेवन वर्ज्य करतात.

श्रावण महिना सुरू होण्याआधी मांस, मद्य खाणे, दारू पिऊन धुंद होणे अशी परंपरा झाली आहे !

पुढील संपूर्ण श्रावण महिना सण-वार आणि उपवास घडणार असल्याने श्रावण सुरू होण्यापूर्वी अमावस्येच्या दिवशी पिऊन आणि मांसाहार करून उणीव भरून काढण्याचा प्रयत्न केला जातो.

मद्यसेवन करून गटारीत लोळण्यासाठीच हा दिवस असतो !!!

वैज्ञानिक कारण काय असेल बरं?

भारतीय ऋतुचक्राप्रमाणे श्रावण महिना म्हणजे पावसाळ्याची सुरुवात अर्थात या दरम्यान ऋतूबद्दल होतं.

ऋतूबद्दल झाल्यामुळे पोट खराब होण्याची शक्यता असते,  त्यामुळे धार्मिक कारणामुळेच का नसो पण हे बंधन पाळण्यात आली असावी.

तसेच श्रावण महिन्यात उपवास लावले असण्याचे एक कारण हेच असावे.

या व्यतिरिक्त हा काळ मास्यांच्या प्रजननासाठी महत्त्वाचा असतो.