Ram Navami 2027
15 April 2027

Ram Navami, Chaitra Shukla Navami kept at madhyahna (midday), remembers the birth of Rama to King Dasharatha and Queen Kaushalya in Ayodhya, as the Valmiki Ramayana and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas both tell. Dasharatha had performed a putrakameshti yagna for a son, and a divine payasam from it was shared among his three queens; Rama was born to Kaushalya, with Bharat, Lakshman and Shatrughna born to Kaikeyi and Sumitra, and Rama is held as Vishnu’s seventh avatar, born to end Ravana’s tyranny.

The day is also the ninth and last of Chaitra Navratri, so the Devi’s nine nights close with Rama’s birth. Many families read the Ramcharitmanas or the Sundarkand through the morning, keep a vrat broken only after the noon aarti, and rock a small cradle (jhanki) for baby Ram at the hour he is held to have been born; Rama is remembered above all as Maryada Purushottam, the one who kept dharma even through the hardest years of his life.

• Idol or picture of the Ram Parivar (Ram, Sita, Lakshman, Hanuman)
• A small cradle (jhula) for baby Ram
• Tulsi leaves
• Panchamrit
• Roli, akshat and flowers
• Fruit for prasad
• Ramcharitmanas or Sundarkand book
• Diya and incense

Source: Valmiki Ramayana, Balkand; Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas

King Dasharatha of Ayodhya, troubled that his three queens had borne him no children, performed the putrakameshti yagna on the sage Vashishtha’s counsel. From the sacrificial fire rose a being bearing a vessel of divine payasam, which Dasharatha shared among Kaushalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra.

In time, Kaushalya gave birth to Rama on Chaitra Shukla Navami at midday, Kaikeyi to Bharat, and Sumitra to the twins Lakshman and Shatrughna. The Ramayana and the Ramcharitmanas both hold Rama as Vishnu’s own avatar, born into this world to end the tyranny of the demon-king Ravana, and his birth at noon that day is why the festival is kept at madhyahna.

What to do

• Read even a few verses of the Ramcharitmanas or the Sundarkand, since the day is kept for Rama’s story above all.
• If your town holds a Ram Lila or a procession, join or watch it, as neighbourhoods across the north have for generations.
• Break the vrat only after the noon aarti, since that hour is held to be when Rama was born.

What to avoid

• Many keep a calm, even temper today of all days, since Rama is remembered as the one who kept his word and his patience through the hardest years.
• Those who keep the vrat avoid non-vegetarian food and alcohol for the day, as many homes do through all nine days of Navratri.

Ayodhya keeps the largest Ram Navami mela, with a procession to the Saryu river and the Ram Janmabhoomi temple drawing lakhs of pilgrims. Bhadrachalam in Telangana marks the day as Sita-Rama Kalyanam, their wedding, rather than only the birth, and the state government sends wedding vastralu by long custom. The Ram-centred vidhi above is strongest in the north; in much of the south the day is kept more quietly, as the close of Chaitra Navratri.