Rama Navami 2025
राम नवमी
Rama Navami falls on Sunday, 6 April 2025 in New Delhi, on Shukla Navami.
Rama Navami marks the birth of Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, in the bright half of Chaitra. People read or hear the Ramayana, sing bhajans and visit temples, and Ayodhya draws especially large crowds.
Why this date
CalculatedIt falls on Chaitra Shukla Navami, the ninth lunar day of the bright fortnight, and Navami has to be in force at midday, the Madhyahna window in the middle of daylight. Midday is used because tradition says Rama was born then.
- Navami begins
- 5 Apr, 7:27 PM
- It ends
- 6 Apr, 7:24 PM
2025 date by city
| New Delhi | Sun, 6 Apr |
|---|---|
| Mumbai | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Kolkata | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Chennai | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Bengaluru | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Hyderabad | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Ahmedabad | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Pune | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Jaipur | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Lucknow | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Patna | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Varanasi | Sun, 6 Apr |
| London | Sun, 6 Apr |
| New York | Sat, 5 Apr |
| San Francisco | Sat, 5 Apr |
| Toronto | Sat, 5 Apr |
| Sydney | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Singapore | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Dubai | Sun, 6 Apr |
| Port Louis | Sun, 6 Apr |
Dates in bold differ from New Delhi’s. Calculated by rule; local practice can differ.
One festival, many stories
Pan-IndianThe birth in Valmiki's Ramayana
Valmiki's Bala Kanda (sarga 18) tells of Rama's birth in Chaitra, on the ninth lunar day, under the star Punarvasu, with Kausalya as his mother. It also lists planetary positions at the moment of his birth, and some of these are still quoted today.
North IndiaTulsidas and the noon hour
In the Ramcharitmanas, Tulsidas places the birth at noon on Navami in the holy month of Chaitra, when the weather is neither too cold nor too hot. Generations of Hindi speakers know Rama's birth through these lines, and they're one reason midday carries such weight.
Andhra Pradesh and TelanganaA wedding, not only a birth
At Bhadrachalam and many other temples of the Telugu states, this day is celebrated with the Sita Rama Kalyanam, the divine wedding. One festival can mark quite different moments in the same story.
Common questions
What people do
- Fasting until midday or longer
- Reading or listening to the Ramayana or Ramcharitmanas
- Rocking a small image of the infant Rama at noon
- Offering panakam, a cold jaggery drink, in parts of south India
Why is Rama Navami celebrated at noon?
Because tradition places Rama's birth around midday, as Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas says, so the festival is fixed by which day has Navami in force at midday.
Can Rama's birth be dated from the planets in the Ramayana?
No date is agreed. Some writers run the planetary positions through astronomy software and give dates like 5114 BCE, but historians don't accept these as settled. Whether those verses are meant as records is itself disputed.
How is Rama Navami related to Chaitra Navratri?
It falls on the ninth day of the same nine nights, Chaitra Navratri. For many households it's both the close of the goddess's nine days and Rama's birthday.
Ask your elders
“Ask your family what your elders did at noon on Rama Navami, and whether anyone sang a lullaby to the baby Rama. Ask who in the family can still recite the Tulsidas verse on the birth.”
Sources
- Valmiki Ramayana, Bala Kanda 18
- Tulsidas, Ramcharitmanas, Bal Kand
- James G. Lochtefeld, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism (Rosen, 2002), entry “Navaratri”
- Spasht calendar engine (festival rule)