PARV 2 OF 30 · CHAITRA

Ram Navami

राम नवमी

Chaitra Shukla Navami, the ninth day of Chaiti Navratra (March–April)

"मंगल भवन अमंगल हारी, द्रवहु सो दशरथ अजिर बिहारी"

Katha · The story

Why we keep it

King Dasharath of Ayodhya had three queens and no son. The sage Rishyashringa performed the Putrakameshti yagya, and from the fire came a vessel of kheer which the three queens shared. On the ninth day of the bright half of Chaitra, at noon, Kaushalya gave birth to Ram, and soon after Kaikeyi to Bharat and Sumitra to Lakshman and Shatrughna. For Mithila the story is doubly ours, because Ram's bride Sita was found in a furrow by King Janak of Mithila, and the land between the Budhi Gandak and the Kamla has thought of itself as Sita's naihar ever since.

In Malinagar the day was for years the day of Dr. Madan Mohan Thakur's Manas pravachan, when people from the surrounding villages came to hear the Ram Charit Manas explained, chaupai by chaupai, under the peepal.

Mahatva · Significance

What it means

Ram Navami celebrates the birth of Vishnu's seventh avatar, the ideal son, husband and king. It ends the nine nights of Chaiti Navratra, so it is also the day the Devi's spring worship closes. In Bihar it is one of the days the Manas is read from beginning to end, the Akhand Path.

"ठुमक चलत रामचंद्र, बाजत पैजनियाँ"
A line everyone at the festival knows

Vidhi · How it is done in Malinagar

Step by step

  1. Chaiti Navratra: nine days of fasting or a single meal a day, a kalash established in the house or temple, and the Durga Saptashati or Manas read daily.
  2. The Akhand Path: a continuous twenty-four-hour reading of the Ram Charit Manas at the temple, readers taking turns through the night.
  3. Noon on Navami: the birth moment. Aarti, the jhula with the infant Ram rocked by the women, and panjiri and panchamrit prasad.
  4. A havan closes the Navratra, followed by kanya pujan where nine small girls are fed and given gifts.

Bhojan · What is eaten

Panjiri (roasted wheat flour, ghee, sugar and dry fruit), panchamrit, sattu-filled kachori and the first kheera-kakdi of the season.

Yaad rakhiye · Good to know

Many families plant the tulsi or renew the tulsi chaura on this day. Saffron flags go up on the temple shikhar and stay till the next Ram Navami.

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