Rama Navami

Rama Nawami (Devangar: ; IAST: Rmanavam ) is a Hindu festival, celebrating the birth of thegod Rama to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya inAyodhya. Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu, is one ofthe oldest avatars of Lord Vishnu having a human form.[2][3] [4] The holy day falls in the Shukla Paksha on theNavami, the ninth day of the month of Chaitra in theHindu calendar. Thus it is also known as Chaitra MasaSuklapaksha Navami, and marks the end of the nine-day Chaitra-Navaratri (Vasanta Navaratri) celebrations.Rama navami is one of the most important Hindu festi-vals.At some places the festival lasts the whole nine daysof the Navaratri, thus the period is called 'Sri RamaNavaratra'.[5][6] It is marked by continuous recitals,Akhand Paath, mostly of the Ramacharitamanas, orga-nized several days in advance to culminate on this day,with elaborate bhajan, kirtan and distribution of prasadafter the puja and aarti. Images of the infant Rama areplaced on cradles and rocked by devotees. Communitymeals are also organized.[7] Since Rama is believed tohave been born at noon, temples and family shrines areelaborately decorated and traditional prayers are chantedtogether by the family in the morning. Also, at temples,special havans are organized, along with Vedic chantingof mantras and oerings of fruits and owers. Many fol-lowers mark this day by vrata (fasting) through the dayfollowed by feasting in the evening, or at the culminationof celebrations.[2][8][9] In South India, in Bhadrachalamthe day is also celebrated as the wedding anniversaryof Rama and his consort Sita. Sitarama Kalyanam, theceremonial wedding ceremony of the divine couple isheld at temples throughout the south region, with greatfanfare and accompanied by group chanting of name ofRama.[10][11]

The important celebrations on this day take place atAyodhya (Uttar Pradesh) Sita Samahit Sthal (Sitamarhi)(Bihar), Bhadrachalam (Telangana) and Rameswaram(Tamil Nadu), thronged by thousands of devotees.Rathayatras, the chariot processions, also known asShobha yatras of Rama, Sita, his brother Lakshmana andHanuman, are taken out at several places,[2][12][13] includ-ing Ayodhya where thousands of people take a dip in thesacred river Sarayu.[14]

1 HistoryIn the epic Ramayana, Dasharatha, the Emperor fromAyodhya, had three wives named Kausalya, Sumitra andKaikeyi in the Treta Yuga (which follows the Satya Yugaand succeeded by the Dwapara Yuga). Rama is bornto Kaushalya, Lakshmana & Shatrughna to Sumitra andBharata to Kaikeyi. Rama is known as 'Maryada Pu-rushottam' which means an ideal, righteous and a greator a perfect human being, being the best son, brother,husband and father.Ramawho takes birth by his ownwill, on Bhuloka (Earth)when Adharma rules over Dharma. He protects all hisdevotees by vanquishing the roots of Adharma. Vishnudecided to incarnate, as Rama, to destroy the Asura (per-son with demonic and evil designs) called Ravana who is aBrahmin king of Lanka. Lord Rama & Lord Krishna arethe only gods in Hinduism or Aryan Vedic context thatreally existed (and some gods are their manifestations ordevotees) and all others are mythological gures basedon Puranas. Hence the mahamantra: II Hare Rama HareRama, Rama Rama Hare Hare II II Hare Krishna HareKrishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare II

1.1 Natal chart of RamaValmiki in his Sanskrit text Ramayana describes the natalor birth chart of young Rama,[15] and this day is cel-ebrated as Ramanavami festival throughout India andamongst Indian diaspora:[16]

2 CelebrationsFollowers of Hinduism in South India normally performKalyanotsavam (marriage celebration) with small deitiesof Rama and Sita in their homes, and at the end of the daythe deity is taken to a procession on the streets. This dayalso marks the end of the nine-day utsava called ChaitraNavaratri (Maharashtra) or Vasanthothsava (Telangana,Andra pradesh, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu) (festival ofSpring), which starts with Gudi Padwa (Maharashtra).According to recent astrological studies, some considerhis date of birth to be January 10, 5114 BC[18][19]

Some highlights of this day include

Kalyanam, a ceremonial wedding performed bytemple priests

1

2 4 SEE ALSO

A Home temple with deities of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana andHanuman, on Sri Rama Navami

Panakam, a sweet drink prepared on this day withjaggery and pepper.

Procession of murtis in the evening, accompanied byplaying with water and colours.

For the occasion, Followers of Hinduism fast or restrictthemselves to a specic diet in accordance to VedaD-harma. Vedic temples are decorated and readings of theRamayana take place. Along with SriRama, people alsoworship Sita, Ramas wife; Lakshmana, Ramas brother;and Hanuman, an ardent devotee of Rama and the leaderof his army in the battle against the rakshasa Ravana, theBrahmin king of Lanka.Some people put a small idol of Rama in a cradle, sym-bolising the signicance of the day and oer prayers toit. Community meals are also organised.[7]

Sri Ramanavami Kalyanam utsava at Bhadrachalam Temple, inTelangana

The Kalyanam performed in the Bhadrachalam Temple,in Telangana is very famous.[20]

A number of ISKCON temples introduced a more promi-nent celebration of the occasion of the holiday with theview of addressing needs of growing native Hindu con-gregation. It is however always was a notable calendarevent on the traditional Gaurabda calendar with a specicadditional requirement of fasting by devotees.[21]

Sri Rama Navami is shared with Swaminarayan Jayanti,the birth of Swaminarayan, who was born in the villageof Chhapaiya in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

3 Rama RajyaMain article: Ram Rajya (The rule of Rama)

Rama Rajya, the reign of Sri Rama, is a rare period ofpeace and prosperity bestowed by him alone. This festivalcommemorates the birth of Sri Rama who is rememberedfor his prosperous and righteous reign.In Northern India, an event that draws popular partici-pation is the Rama Navami procession, also called RathaYatra. The main attraction in this procession is a gailydecorated chariot in which four persons enact the divinepastimes of Rama, His brother Lakshmana, His queenSita and His pure devotee, Hanuman. The chariot is ac-companied by several other persons dressed up in ancientcostumes as Ramas soldiers. The procession is a gustyaair with the participants praising echoing the blissfuldays of Ramas rule as the Supreme Emperor on Bhuloka(Earth).The Ramrajya means the reign, the kingdom and thegeneral circumstances (the Rajya) that Shreeram gaveto Ayodhya. Moulding the people on the lines of the sub-jects of Ayodhya; to make of them, what the citizens ofAyodhya were; creating a society and social order likeAyodhya had, grooming every single individual from thispoint of view leading to a corresponding response fromthe human community in its entirety - that is what theRamrajya meansWhen the subjects (the people of the kingdom) arehappy, they are not sad, not miserable, not helpless, notstarved or hungry, they are not targets for abuse and con-tempt, they are not kicked around, the reign or the pre-vailing state is called the Ramrajya, said Sadguru ShreeAniruddha Bapu in His special discourse on 6 May 2010as he spoke about the Ramrajya, His dream, His aim, Hisword and His motto, all for His friends sakes - our sakes.And so we understand that the Ramrajya is as much astate of aairs at the general level as it is a state of mind(mind as inmental capacities, inner resources of a person)at the particular level. This is a destination, a situation wehave to attain and so ushering in the Ramrajya calls forcommitted and consistent eort at both the individual andthe collective levels.

4 See also Public holidays in India

List of Hindu festivals

35 References and notes[1] March 2015 Calendar with Holidays. Retrieved 20

November 2014.

[2] Ram Navami BBC.

[3] Gupte, B (1919). Hinduism or VedaDharma - (misnomer:Hinduism) Holidays and Ceremonials.

[4] The nine-day festival of Navratri leading up to Sri RamaNavami has bhajans, kirtans and discourses in store fordevotees Indian Express, Friday , March 31, 2006.

[5] Sri Ram Navami VedaDharma (Hindu) and Muham-madan festivals, by John Murdoch. Published by AsianEducational Services, 1991. ISBN 81-206-0708-2. Page47

[6] Ram Navami

[7] President and PM greet people as India observes RamNavami today. IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved8 April 2014.

[8] Ramnavami Govt. of India Portal.

[9] Ramnavami The Times of India, Apr 2, 2009.

[10] Gaiety marks celestial wedding in Bhadrachalam TheHindu, Saturday, Apr 08, 2006.

[11] Thousands witness Sitarama kalyanam The Hindu, Satur-day, Apr 08, 2006.

[12] On Ram Navami, we celebrate our love for the idealIndian Express, Monday , March 31, 2003.

[13] Shobha yatra on Ram Navami eve Indian Express, Thurs-day, March 25, 1999.

[14] At Ayodhya, Ram Navami celebrated amid religious har-mony Indian Express, Apr 15, 2008.

[15] Jagannathan, Maithily (2005). Rama Navami. SouthIndian Hindu Festivals and Traditions. Abhinav Publica-tions. p. 82. ISBN 81-7017-415-5.

[16] Rama Navami

[17] Bala Kanda, Chapter 18, Verse 8, 9, 10 Text

[18] The Sunday Tribune - Spectrum - Lead Article

[19] Bezbaroowa, Sunit; Joshi, Arvind (November 8, 2003).Lord Ram was born in 5114 BC. The Times Of India.

[20] http://www.bhadrachalarama.org/

[21] Zaidman, N. (2000). The Integration of Indian Immi-grants to Temples Run by North Americans. Social Com-pass 47 (2): 205. doi:10.1177/003776800047002005.Retrieved 2008-06-01. Another example of a religiousenterprise initiated by a board member was the organi-zation of Lord Ramachandra Appearance Day (Sri RamNavami).

4 6 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

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HistoryNatal chart of Rama

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