Shri Ramanavami festival is an important Hindu festival, which is celebrated in many parts of India. On 6th of this month. Lord SriRama is  very important God among Hindu Gods .It is the celebration of Lord Srirama’s birth day  on the 9th day of Hindu lunar calendar – chiatramasa shukapaksha navami . Lord Srirama was incarnation of Lord Vishnu, the supreme deity who is behind creation, sustenance and dissolution of the universe, which operate in a cyclic fashion without either beginning or end .Lord Srirama took human birth in the Tretayuga  of the four yugas  of one time universal existence . He took birth to fight against evils and anarchy and establish dharma or righteousness and order in society and to protect the people of virtues. His birth and life are described in Ramayana by the saint Valmiki, which is one of the largest epics ever written .   There is an incident quoted in Ramayana. A tribal (untouchable) women by name Shabhari who was a devotee of Lord Srirama who was living in the forest  collected wild fruits, when she heard the passing off Srirama though that way to offer him . She use to bite every fruit to find out whether it was ripe.. Normally bitten fruit is considered as polluted and not offered for worship.  She also belonged to low caste. In ancient times, they were prohibited to make offerings to God. Srirama is said to have accepted her offer of fruits and enjoyed eating them. God makes no distinction between rich or poor, low or high caste etc. The above  anecdote demonstrates that   it is not the social status  or  purity as conceived by ordinary mind that are relevant in  receiving the grace of God, but the deep faith of the devotee. God   loves  the offering of  even apparently insignificant things like water, blade of grass, leaves, flowers etc  with deep faith and devotion  more than expensive offerings . People may spend lot of ill- gotten money as offering for publicity and for gaining name, fame and material gains without true faith in God. God expects us to earn money by honest means. God has everything, as he himself is the dispenser of every fortune and does not need the most expensive things we offer. Thus practices of worshipping God should be as simple as possible without much of celebration involving huge expenditure.

 This festival unlike other Indian festivals like Holi or Deepavali  is not celebrated with pomp and revelry .On the other hand , it is celebrated in piety to commemorate the  coming to  earth of  a divine personality  like Rama and pay obeisance to him . Lord Rama was gem of a man endowed with all the virtues and  all the satvik qualities as ideal son, husband, brother, and ruler. He had remarkable powers. No other power was equal to him. (to know  more about the exemplary personality of Lord Srirama, read my article on Moral side of Ramayana).  People fast up to noon, as an act of austerity. It is also a way of gaining control over our senses which run amuck  chasing  comforts of  outside world .One should not  take fasting simply as a act of forgoing food for some time  to please deity, although it is practiced as a ritual connected with the festival . On the other hand, it should be taken  as an attempt to tame our senses or control our senses  and desires which  spell disaster  or to lead a self restrained, disciplined life or a life guided by  sense of discrimination or  to lead our life directed by  characteristics of our inner being  such as moral values, ceiling on desires,  dispassion towards  worldly pleasures,relinguishing  fruits of our actions and doing our duties and engaging in activities with zeal and enthusiasm, without any personal interest .In  other words , it is a reminder to ourselves to try  to maintain  the sacredness and sanctity of human life. We have see Lord Rama as role model for the humanity and we should try to live following his example in all spheres of our lives. we   are celebrating Ramanavami in it’s true spirit only if we do this  way , other wise, celebration loses its meaning and worth.

Lord Srirama is supposed to have born in the noon, when the sun is in its ascendancy and when it emits strongest light. Lord Srirama who is said to have born in ‘soorya vamsa’ or Sun Dynasty  People in Karnataka celebrate this festival.  Lord Srirama is said to be born   in the noon, when the sun is in its exalted position. Infact, it is the beginning of summer season.  People  observe fast till noon and at noon they  conduct ‘puja’  or worship  with certain tantric rites .Two special food preparations viz  ‘neer majike’  or  diluted  buttermilk and, Kosambari or seasoned soaked salted green gram and ‘panaka  or drink made of Jaggery are  prepared  as’prasadam’ for worship.. These are widely shared with who ever visit the houses. In the summer heat, these food items serve as coolants and compensate for loss of liquid in the body. Lord Rama’s marriage with Sitadevi is commemorated with   their small idols made of metal and it is taken as procession with accompaniments of folk musical instruments like percussion and wind instruments played in full swing through the streets, when people gather in large numbers to have a view of lord and pay obeisance. In some north Indian states, Persons dress up like Ram, Sita, Lakshman and devotee of Rama, monkey God Hanuman. They are taken in a decorated chariot accompanied by people dressed up like their army men. In the festival, the sun god is also given prominence; the reason could be that Lord Rama is believed to be descendant of   the famous Surya dynasty.  The cultural centres wake up to the occasion and  every day evening  devotional  music performance  particularly  including  compositions of Lord Rama , Lord Krishna, Lord Ganesha  and so on is arranged  by veterans  in the field who show case their skills  by local Associations  such as Rammandali , where the stalwarts show case their   erudite skills  before the thrilled audience , creating a devotional ambience. This celebration shows that, the values which Lord SriRama practiced thousands of years ago arerelevant today and worth emulating by all of us in the modern era. , Perhaps those are more needed today than ever before and the humanity can never lose touch of the legacies of the past.

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