It is the occasion of Shri Ram Navami today, celebrated with much gaiety and pomp all over the country. It is also called the festival of the spring since it is right at the outset of spring, its timing coinciding with Baisakhi and other harvest festivals. Some celebrate this as the birth of Bhagwan Shri Ram while others celebrate this day as the marriage of Bhagwan Shri Ram with Devi Sita.
It is celebrated on the ninth day of the Chaitra month, marking the end of the nine nights of Navratri. This year, it is being celebrated on both the 13th and 14th of April.
This is one of the biggest festivals for the Hindus in India celebrated all over with great fervour. In Ayodhya, the birthplace of Shri Ram, there are rath yatras (on chariots) taken out, as is the case in various other parts of the country where palkhis (palanquins) are taken out with Shri Ram’s idols on it with people singing and dancing along in the procession.
Bhajans, kirtans and recitals from the Ramayana and Ramcharitamanas are also a common way of celebrating this occasion of one of the greatest Hindu gods and legends to have lived an exemplary life of devotion, righteousness and sacrifice. Devotees fast as well on this day.
India Beckons wishes all those celebrating this grand festival an auspicious and shubh beginning on the occasion of Shri Ram Navami.
