Ramanavami Festival The birth of Rama, held to have been at noon on Chaitra Shukla Navami.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Ramanavami
- தமிழ்
- ராம நவமி
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The birth of Rama, held to have been at noon on Chaitra Shukla Navami. Temples read the Ramayana through the nine days from Ugadi and the panagam, the jaggery and cardamom drink, is given away at the roadside. In many Tamil towns the Sita Kalyanam, the marriage of Rama and Sita, is performed the same day or the next.
- Deity
- Rama, Sita, Hanuman
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Madhyahna, the midpoint of sunrise and sunset, is the hour of the birth; the calendar takes the day on which Navami runs at midday rather than the day it holds the sunrise.
The fast
A light fast until the noon puja, broken with panagam, neer mor (spiced buttermilk) and kosambari; some keep it as a full upavasam until the evening.
Where the regions differ
Andhra and Telangana keep the same tithi as Sri Rama Navami with the Sita Kalyanam at Bhadrachalam; the north keeps it as Ram Navami and closes Chaitra Navratri with it.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.