Ram Navami

About Ram Navami

Significance

Ram Navami celebrates the birth of Rama, prince of Ayodhya, hero of the Ramayana and the seventh avatara of Vishnu in the common lists. It closes the nine days of Chaitra Navratri, and in many temples and homes it is the culmination of a nine-day recitation of the Ramayana.

The Valmiki Ramayana (Bala Kanda, canto 18) relates that after King Dasharatha’s sacrifice Kausalya bore Rama on the ninth lunar day of Chaitra, under the Punarvasu nakshatra with Cancer rising, and that Bharata, Lakshmana and Shatrughna were born soon after. Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas places the birth at midday, in the Abhijit muhurta, and the midday hour is the focus of the festival.

How and where it is observed

Ram Navami is a gazetted holiday in the Government of India’s list and is kept across the country. Pilgrims gather at Ayodhya to bathe in the Sarayu and visit Rama’s temples; at Bhadrachalam in Telangana the wedding of Sita and Rama (Sita Rama Kalyanam) is celebrated on the day, a custom followed in many South Indian temples. Vaishnava communities, among them ISKCON, keep the day with a fast until evening.

Rituals

At midday an image of the infant Rama is placed in a decorated cradle, rocked to songs and offered aarti, and temple bells mark the hour of birth. Many devotees fast until midday or through the day and read or hear the Ramayana or the Ramcharitmanas. Processions with images of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman are held in many towns, and in South India panakam, spiced buttermilk (neer mor) and kosambari are offered and shared.

How the date is fixed

Ram Navami is Chaitra Shukla Navami, the same month in both reckonings. Since the birth is celebrated at midday, the Navami must prevail at Madhyahna, the third of the five parts of the daytime. If Navami covers part of the Madhyahna on two days, the day with the greater coverage is taken; if on neither, the day on which Navami prevails longest. Some sectarian calendars apply further rules of their own in such years and can differ by a day.

Sources

• Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda, canto 18 (the birth of Rama)
• Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand (the birth at midday)
• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Rama Navami
• Government of India (DoPT) list of gazetted holidays

Customs differ between regions, communities and families; this description is background, not a prescription. The date above is calculated by the rule shown on this page.