Festival Etymology
Other Festival Names, Explained
Regional and additional festivals not covered on their own page yet — including two (Onam, Pongal) whose names come from Dravidian languages rather than Sanskrit, included for completeness.
युगादि
युग (yuga, "age/era") + आदि (ādi, "beginning")
"The beginning of an age" — the lunisolar New Year for Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In Maharashtra the same day is Gudi Padwa — Gudi (Marathi, a victory flag) + Padwa (from Sanskrit Pratipada, the first Tithi).
वैशाखी
From वैशाख (Vaiśākha), the month it falls in
A solar harvest festival and Sikh New Year, simply named for the Sanskrit month Vaishakha during which it falls.
रथ यात्रा
रथ (ratha, "chariot") + यात्रा (yātrā, "journey, procession")
"Chariot procession" — the annual festival in which deities, most famously at Puri's Jagannath Temple, are pulled through the streets on massive chariots.
दुर्गा पूजा
दुर्गा (Durgā) + पूजा (pūjā, "worship")
Worship of the goddess Durga, whose name itself derives from durga — "a fort" or "something difficult to reach/overcome" — reflecting her role as an invincible protector.
ओणम्
From ओणम् / थिരുവോണം (Thiruvonam), tied to the Shravana Nakshatra
Kerala's major harvest festival, its climax falling on the day the Shravana Nakshatra (Onam/Thiruvonam in Malayalam) is active in the month of Chingam.
பொங்கல்
From Tamil poṅkal, "to boil over"
Tamil Nadu's harvest festival, named for the ritual of boiling the new rice until the pot overflows — a Tamil (Dravidian), not Sanskrit, word, included here for completeness since it coincides with Makar Sankranti.
See our main festival name index.