Ram Navami

Rama Navami (Sanskrit: राम नवमी, romanized: Rāmanavamī) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama, the seventh avatar of the deity Vishnu, to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya, Kosala.^[3][4][5] This festival is a part of the Chaitra Navaratri in the spring, and falls on the ninth day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March-April), the first month in the Hindu calendar.^[6] Rama Navami is an optional holiday for government employees in India.^[7] The day is marked by reciting from the Hindu epic Ramayana which narrates the tale of Rama.^[8] Vaishnava Hindus celebrate the festival by visiting temples, praying, fasting, listening to spiritual discourses and singing bhajans or kirtans (devotional songs).^[3][6][9] Some devotees offer worship to Rama like an infant by placing an image of him in a cradle.^[8] Charitable events and community meals are also organized. The festival is an occasion for moral reflection for many Hindus.^[3][10] Important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya and numerous Rama temples all over India. Ratha yatras (chariot processions) of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman occur at several places.^[3][11] In Ayodhya, many take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu and then visit the Rama temple.^[5]

Celebrations and rituals[edit]

A number of cities mentioned in the Ramayana legends about Rama’s life observe major celebrations.^[6] These include Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh),^[6] Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), Bhadrachalam (Telangana) and Sitamarhi (Bihar). Some locations organize ratha yatras (chariot processions), while some celebrate it as the wedding anniversary festival (kalyanotsavam) of Rama and Sita.^[5] While the festival is named after Rama, the festival typically includes reverence for Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman, given their importance in Rama’s life story.^[12] Surya, the Hindu sun god, is a part of the worship and ceremonies in some communities.^[13] Some Vaishnava communities observe all nine days of Chaitra (Vasanta) Navaratri by remembering Rama and reading the Ramayana, with some temples organizing special discussion sessions in the evening.^[13] Charitable events to help those in need and community meals are organized by temples. In Karnataka, Rama Navami is celebrated by the local mandalis (organizations) at some places, even on footpaths, by dispersing free panakam (a jaggery drink) and some food. Additionally, in Bengaluru, Karnataka, the Sree Ramaseva Mandali, R.C.T (R.) Chamrajpet, organizes India’s most prestigious, month-long classical music festival. The uniqueness of this 80 year old musical extravaganza is that celebrated Indian classical musicians, irrespective of their religion, from both genres – Carnatic (South Indian) and Hindustani (North Indian) – descend down to offer their musical rendition to Rama and the assembled audience.^[14] In eastern Indian states such as Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal, the Jagannath temples and regional Vaishnava community observe Rama Navami, and treat it as the day when preparations begin for their annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra in summer.^[15] Devotees associated with ISKCON fast through the daylight hours.^[13] A number of ISKCON temples introduced a more prominent celebration of the occasion of the holiday with the view of addressing needs of growing native Hindu congregation. It was however a notable calendar event on the traditional Gaurabda calendar with a specific additional requirement of fasting by devotees.^[16]

Literature[edit]

During Ram Navami, reading or listening from literature about Rama is a common practice. Reading the entire Ramayana (Hindu epic entailing the adventures of Rama)^[17] for a week leading up to Rama Navami is organized.^[3][8] The earliest version of the text was composed by the sage Valmiki.^[6] Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas, a later version of the Ramayana written in the vernacular of that time, is also popularly recited.^[18] The start of the composition of the Ramcharitmanas began on Rama Navami.^[19]

Drama[edit]

A public dramatic performance, known as Ramlila, is annually hosted on the festivals of Ram Navami and Vijayadashami.^[20][21] Ram lila encapsulates the story of Rama through music, drama, dance and various other mediums.^[22] The enactments of Ramlila are inspired by the Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas.^[6]

Significance[edit]

The festival observes the victory of good over evil and dharma over adharma. The Rama Navami festival celebration starts with jalam (water) offering in the early morning to Surya (the sun god) to propitiate him. This is due to the belief that the descendants of Surya were the ancestors of Rama.^[23]

Outside of India[edit]

Rama Navami is one of the Hindu festivals that is celebrated by the Indian diaspora with roots in Uttar Pradesh and other states.^[24] The descendants of Indian indentured servants who were forced to leave India due to British-engineered famines and then promised jobs in colonial South Africa before 1910 in British-owned plantations and mines, and thereafter lived under the South African apartheid regime, continued to celebrate Rama Navami by reciting the Ramayana and by singing bhajans of Tyagaraja and Bhadrachala Ramdas. The tradition continues in contemporary times in the Hindu temples of Durban every year.^[25] Similarly, in Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Jamaica, other Caribbean countries, Mauritius, Malaysia, Singapore, and many other countries with Hindu descendants of colonial-era indentured workers forced to leave British India have continued to observe Rama Navami along with their other traditional festivals.^[26] It is also celebrated by Hindus in Fiji and those Fiji Hindus who have re-migrated elsewhere.^[27]

See also[edit]

• List of Hindu festivals
• Rama Navami riots

References and notes[edit]