When is Ram Navami?
The answer
Thursday, 15 April 2027
Rama's birth, on the ninth of the bright fortnight.
Why that day
- The tithi it is
- Chaitra Shukla 9
Read the ordinary way: the day whose SUNRISE this tithi is running at.
And after that
Tuesday, 4 April 2028
Chaitra Shukla 9
Saturday, 24 March 2029
Chaitra Shukla 9
How this date is worked out
A festival is a position, not a date. The lunar month is named by the sidereal sign the Sun stands in at the new moon that opens it, and the tithi is the Moon's distance from the Sun in twelve-degree steps. Both come from the same ephemeris this site casts birth charts with.
North India reckons a month from full moon to full moon, so the dark fortnight carries the next month's name — the same day is Shravana Krishna Tritiya in Pune and Bhadrapada Krishna Tritiya in Delhi. These dates use the northern reckoning, and the tithi is printed above so there is nothing to take on trust.
Why it is kept
Chaitra Shukla Navami — Rama's birthday, and the last day of Chaitra Navratri. The two falling together is not a coincidence: nine nights of worship close on the avatar who came to end adharma. Even the hour is written down — the Valmiki Ramayana gives Chaitra Shukla Navami, Punarvasu nakshatra, Karka lagna, Abhijit muhurta, midday. That is why the puja is at noon and not in the morning or evening: madhyahna is the birth hour.
The story behind it
The yagna
Dasharatha had three queens and no child. The sage Rishyashringa performed the Putrakameshti yagna.
The kheer
Agni rose from the fire and handed over a vessel of divine kheer. Dasharatha divided it among the three queens.
Four sons
Rama to Kaushalya, Bharata to Kaikeyi, and Lakshmana and Shatrughna to Sumitra — two, because both the other queens gave her a share of theirs.
Midday
Rama was born at noon on Chaitra Shukla Navami, in Punarvasu, with Karka rising. The Ramcharitmanas writes it: bhaye pragat kripala dinadayala.
Why
The reason was Ravana, whose boon covered devas and asuras but did not bother to count men. So Vishnu came as one.
What to keep ready
- A picture of the Ram Darbar — Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman
- A cradle and a small infant-Rama image, where the birth is celebrated
- Tulsi — no bhog to a Vishnu avatar without it
- Panchamrit, Ganga water, a kalash
- Yellow cloth, yellow flowers, lotus
- Dhania panjiri and jaggery with coriander — Ram Navami's own prasad
- Banana, cucumber and seasonal fruit
- A copy of the Ramcharitmanas or the Sundarkand
How the puja is done
1
Bathe and resolve
Bathe in the morning and take the sankalp. Anyone keeping the Navratri fast breaks it today.
2
The midday puja
The puja is at noon, around Abhijit muhurta — the birth hour. Kalash, abhishek with panchamrit, yellow cloth and tulsi.
3
The birth
At exact midday, the conch, the bell, and the cry that Rama is born. Rock the infant Rama in the cradle.
4
The reading
The birth passage from the Balkand, or the Sundarkand, or the Ram Raksha Stotra.
5
Bhog
Dhania panjiri, jaggery and coriander, fruit and kheer — with tulsi on it.
6
Kanya pujan and parana
Navratri closes here; break the fast after the kanya pujan.
What to do
- Do the puja at midday, not in the morning — Rama was born at noon and that is this day's own rule.
- Keep tulsi on the bhog; an offering to any avatar of Vishnu is held incomplete without it.
- If you kept the Navratri fast, break it today after the kanya pujan.
- Make dhania panjiri — that is Ram Navami's prasad; other sweets come after.
- Remember Hanuman alongside; he is always in the Ram Darbar.
What not to do
- No rice or grain today for anyone fasting; stay on fruit.
- No onion, garlic, meat or drink in the house.
- Do not pluck tulsi today — pluck it the day before.
- Eat nothing before the puja, and do not push the midday puja later.
- No insult and no harsh word today; the whole story of Ram Navami is about conduct.
The aarti
Shri Ram Chandra Kripalu Bhajman
श्री रामचंद्र कृपालु भजमन हरण भव भय दारुणम्।
नव कंज लोचन कंज मुख कर कंज पद कंजारुणम्॥
कंदर्प अगणित अमित छवि नव नील नीरज सुंदरम्।
पटपीत मानहुँ तड़ित रुचि शुचि नौमि जनक सुतावरम्॥
भजु दीनबंधु दिनेश दानव दैत्यवंश निकंदनम्।
रघुनंद आनंदकंद कोशल चंद दशरथ नंदनम्॥
सिर मुकुट कुंडल तिलक चारु उदार अंग विभूषणम्।
आजानुभुज शर चापधर संग्राम जित खरदूषणम्॥
इति वदति तुलसीदास शंकर शेष मुनि मन रंजनम्।
मम हृदय कंज निवास कुरु कामादि खलदल गंजनम्॥
मनु जाहिं राचेउ मिलहि सो बरु सहज सुंदर साँवरो।
करुणा निधान सुजान सीलु सनेहु जानत रावरो॥
The sky has a calendar. So do you.
The same engine reads your own birth moment — every house, every graha, every period with dates.