Ram Navami Festival



Detailed Information about Ram Navami Festival & Its Importance


India is a land of festivals and the cultures that have a perfect harmony and see the grandeur in the celebrations of every single festival irrespective of the religion. Here we find in India that every festival is a celebration of the brotherhood and the unity. Of the many festivals that flood the Indian calendar Ram Navami or Sri Rama Navaratra is one of the festivals that remember the birth of the mythological character Lord Rama, who was known to have killed the ten headed demon, Ravana from Lanka. Lord Rama is believed to be the 7th incarnation of the 10 incarnations of lord Vishnu. The life of Lord Rama is filled with plenty of events right from the childhood and has been mentioned in the famous book "Ramayana" written by "Rishi Valmikli" in poetry form.

The Ram Navami is celebrated as a birthday of Lord Rama and it falls on the 9th day in the month of Chaitra according to the Hindu calendar or the Navami in the Sukla Paksha as called according to the Hindu nomenclature. And hence the day is also known as if we may properly call it as "Chaitra Masa Suklapaksha Navami". The celebrations can also be seen to continue for the whole nine days and during this time the celebrations give it the name Sri Ram Navaratas.

During this time the temples are decorated with lights and the colours. The "bhajans" and "kirtans" fill the temples with the chants from the devotees all through the day and also deep into the night. The Prasad is prepared and are distributed to all those visiting the celebrations. The havans or the ceremonial fire is lit up and the offerings are dropped in the fire with the proper recitation of the vedic hymns by the priests. many people fast on this auspicious day for the purification of their soul and also to offer their devotion to lord rams and break their fast usually in the evening on the end of all the rituals that is followed by the having of the parsad by sitting on the floor with folded legs and in the plates made up of tugged leaves as a mark of purity.

Lord Rama was born in the midday and to mark the birth on this date special prayers are recited at exactly noon time. In the northern India the celebrations have a greater meaning than other parts of the subcontinent. In the northern india the chariots or the "raths" are brought out in the streets and the people guise themselves as Rama, his brother Laxman, lord Rama's wife Sita and his most famous disciple Hanuman. The people usually follow the chariot and keep shouting from the slogan of "Hail Lord Rama".

Lord Rama has been depicted as a person with a person of high moral character and always keeping to the principles of the "raghu kula" i.e. the family line of which he was born that believed on giving one's life against ones words. The evidence of the existence of lord Rama has been found in the recent times in many parts of India and Srilanka too.