Hindu festival celebrating the birth of the deity Rama
Rama Navami
Rama worshipped with consort Sita and brother Lakshmana on Rama Navami
Type
Hindu
Significance
Birthday of Rama
Observances
Puja, Vrata (fast), recitation of the Ramayana and other versions, charity, and bhajan
Date
Chaitra Shukla Navami
2024 date
Wednesday,17 April[1]
2025 date
Sunday, 6 April[2]
Frequency
Annual
Explanatory note
Hindu festival dates
The Hindu calendar is lunisolar but most festival dates are specified using the lunar portion of the calendar. A lunar day is uniquely identified by three calendar elements: māsa (lunar month), pakṣa (lunar fortnight) and tithi (lunar day).
Furthermore, when specifying the masa, one of two traditions are applicable, viz. amānta / pūrṇimānta. If a festival falls in the waning phase of the moon, these two traditions identify the same lunar day as falling in two different (but successive) masa.
A lunar year is shorter than a solar year by about eleven days. As a result, most Hindu festivals occur on different days in successive years on the Gregorian calendar.
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Rama Navami (Sanskrit: राम नवमी, romanized: Rāmanavamī) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama, one of the most popularly revered deities in Hinduism, also known as the seventh avatar of Vishnu.[3][4][5] He is often held as an emblem within Hinduism for being an ideal king and human through his righteousness, good conduct and virtue.[5][6] The festival 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.[7] It is also part of the Chaitra Navaratri festival in spring.[8] Rama Navami is a holiday for government employees in India.[9]
The rituals and customs associated with Rama Navami vary from region to region throughout India. The day is marked by reciting from the Hindu epic Ramayana which narrates the tale of Rama.[10] Vaishnava Hindus celebrate the festival by visiting temples, praying, fasting, listening to spiritual discourses and singing bhajans or kirtans (devotional songs).[3][8][11] Some devotees offer worship to Rama like an infant by placing an image of him in a cradle.[10] Charitable events and community meals are also organized. The festival is an occasion for moral reflection for many Hindus.[3][12]
Important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya's Ram Mandir and numerous Rama temples all over India. Ratha yatras (chariot processions) of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman occur at several places.[3][13] In Ayodhya, many take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu and then visit the Rama temple.[4]
^"Chaitra Navratri 2023: Is Chaitra Navratri beginning on March 21 or 22? Find the correct date of the Hindu festival". hindustantimes.com. 19 March 2023.
^"Ram Navami 2024, 2025 and 2026". publicholidays.in. 17 April 2024.
^ abcd"Religions - Hinduism: Rama Navami". BBC. 28 August 2009.
^ abHindus around the world celebrate Ram Navami today, DNA, 8 April 2014
^ ab"Rama | Description, Symbolism, Meaning, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 30 March 2023. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
^Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^The nine-day festival of Navratri leading up to Sri Rama Navami has bhajans, kirtans and discourses in store for devoteesArchived 7 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
^ abJames G. Lochtefeld (2002). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism: N-Z. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 558–559. ISBN 978-0-8239-3180-4.
^Holiday Calendar Archived 28 August 2017 at the Wayback Machine, High Court of Karnataka, Government
^ abRobinson, James B. (2009). Hinduism. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4381-0641-0.
^Ramnavami The Times of India, 2 April 2009.
^"President and PM greet people as India observes Ram Navami today". IANS. news.biharprabha.com. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
^On Ram Navami, we celebrate our love for the ideal Archived 7 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine Indian Express, Monday, 31 March 2003.
RamaNavami (Sanskrit: राम नवमी, romanized: Rāmanavamī) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama, one of the most popularly revered deities...
RamaNavami is a Hindu festival celebrating the birthday of Hindu deity Rama. It falls on the 9th day of the Chaitra month every year in the Hindu calendar...
twenty-fourth day of each month. RamaNavami is a Hindu festival, celebrating of the birth of the deity Rama. It is celebrated on the navami of Shukla Paksha of the...
to Rama devotees in the contemporary times, with devotees and monks gathering there on dates such as RamaNavami. Some of Rama temples include: Rama temple...
worshipped on nine days. The last day is also RamaNavami, the birthday of Rama. For this reason, it is also called Rama Navaratri by some people. In many regions...
three-day fair is organised at Narsingh Dev temple in Kathua. RamaNavami, the birth of Shri Rama is celebrated with religious fervour & gaiety all across...
(Sanskrit: परशुराम, romanized: Paraśurāma, lit. 'Rama with an axe'), also referred to as Rama Jamadagnya, Rama Bhargava and Virarama, is the sixth avatar among...
Ramchaura Mandir celebrates RamaNavami, the birth anniversary of Rama. A small fair is also organised on the eve of RamaNavami. Archeological objects excavated...
of Swaminarayan coincided with the Hindu festival of RamaNavami, celebrating the birth of Rama. The ninth lunar day in the fortnight of the waxing moon...
first day of the traditional solar month of Meṣa. Narasimha Jayanti RamaNavami Krishna Janmashtami Anjaneya Temple, Nanganallur "2025 Hanuman Jayanti...
is topped by 3 golden kalashas. An important festival occurs here on RamaNavami. "Raghunatha Temple Odagaon". Wikimapia. Retrieved 29 October 2010. Amaresh...
Itihasas, the other being the Mahabharata. The epic narrates the life of Rama, a prince of Ayodhya in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year...
the devas and human beings. The most prominent of these incarnations are Rama and Krishna. His adherents are called the Vaishnavas, who regard him to be...
Archived from the original on 3 September 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2018. "RamaNavami – Hindupedia, the Hindu Encyclopedia". Hindupedia.com. Archived from...
sites in India Hindu pilgrimage sites of world List of Hindu festivals RamaNavami festival Tourism in India "'Prana Pratishta' at Ram Mandir to be held...
temple. The people of Nashik boycotted the protesters. On the day of RamaNavami 9 April 1930, the dalit protesters tried to stop the temple ratha yatra;...
Gandaki rivers meet. Deities worshipped here include Rama, Sita, and Valmiki. The festival of RamaNavami is also celebrated here. According to Hindu history...
Muchukunda, Ambarisha, Bharata, Bahubali, Harishchandra, Dilīpa, Sagara, Raghu, Rama, and Pasenadi. Both the Hindu Puranas and the Buddhist texts include Shuddodhana...
the Mahabharata Bhumanyu is born to him by a yajna. In the epic Ramayana, Rama, Sita and Lakshmana meet Bharadvaja at his ashrama (hermitage) at the start...
God of the oceans Lakshmana Younger Brother of Rama Hanuman Highest devotee of Rama Sita Consort of Rama and incarnation of Lakshmi Sati An incarnation...
publications. It will also organize cultural shows, celebrate festivals such as RamaNavami and holistic well-being programmes. The temple is expected to exceed...
Bālakāṇḍa of Vālmīki's Rāmāyaṇa, where Viśvāmitra calls out to Rāma to wake up. O Rāma, the noble son of Kausalyā! The Sandhyā of the East commences....