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32-726: The drink is traditionally made on Rama Navami , though it is commonly offered as a beverage during Hindu festivals , and as a prasadam after religious ceremonies, especially during the summer months. The Times of India called it "synonymous with Sri Ramnavami". In some parts of India, it is a traditional part of wedding preparations. According to Jaffrey the base of the drink is jaggery . It also typically includes some combination of lemon juice , cardamom , ginger , all of which are usually mixed with cold water. In her 2014 World Vegetarian , Jaffrey calls for it to be served hot. Jaffrey's version to be served cold includes lemon juice, while her hot version does not. This article about

64-432: A cradle. Charitable events and community meals are also organized. The festival is an occasion for moral reflection for many Hindus. Important celebrations on this day take place at Ayodhya 's Ram Mandir and numerous Rama temples all over India. Ratha yatras (chariot processions) of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana , and Hanuman occur at several places. In Ayodhya, many take a dip in the sacred river Sarayu and then visit

96-547: A keen interest in the life of her son Bharata, often taking the latter and Shatrughna away to the Kaikeya kingdom during the summer. Kaikeyi helped her husband Dasharatha in the Dandaka forest while he was at war. While Kaikeyi saved the king in the war, as per mythology, her left hand was strong as a diamond (a boon from a Saint) so the king accompanied her during wars. Kaikeyi was the king's favorite queen. Kaikeyi's nature

128-598: Is a holiday for government employees in India. The rituals and customs associated with Rama Navami vary from region to region throughout India. The day is marked by reciting from the Hindu epic Ramayana which narrates the tale of Rama. Vaishnava Hindus celebrate the festival by visiting temples, praying, fasting, listening to spiritual discourses and singing bhajans or kirtans (devotional songs). Some devotees offer worship to Rama like an infant by placing an image of him in

160-495: Is also celebrated by Hindus in Fiji and Fijian Hindus who have re-migrated elsewhere. Kaikeyi Kaikeyi ( Sanskrit : कैकेयी, IAST : Kaikeyī) is a princess of Kekeya and the queen of Kosala in the Hindu epic Ramayana . Kaikeyi is the third queen and favourite consort of King Dasharatha , who ruled Kosala from its capital, Ayodhya . She is the mother of Bharata . Out of Dasharatha's three wives, Kaikeyi exerts

192-523: Is described as being temperamental and unpredictable. While she was mostly gentle, it is evident that she disliked the king spending time with his other queens. King Dasharatha mentions that he did not treat his queen Kausalya with the love she deserved due to fear of Kaikeyi's tantrums and possessiveness. Kaikeyi seemed almost naive when it came to understanding the rights of the four princes to Ayodhya's throne. She naively mentions to her maid Manthara that Bharata can rule Ayodhya after Rama, not understanding

224-578: Is just what mothers did. Whether good or bad, he remarked, what mothers did was for the betterment of their children, not for themselves, so it is not proper to be angry with them. Kaikeyi's personality and her relationships are quite revealing in Ayodhya Kanda of the Valmiki Ramayana. Kaikeyi maintained strong relations with her maternal family even after her wedding to King Dasharatha. Her brother Yudhajit visits her many times and takes

256-450: The Rama , Sumitra to twins, Lakshmana and Satrughna and Kaikeyi to Bharata . In a battle between the devas and the asuras , Dasharatha rode to Devaloka , accompanied by Kaikeyi, to help Indra fight against the asuras. The devas were at a disadvantage due to the sorcery employed by Shambara and his army of asuras. Dasharatha, riding a chariot, faced the asuras in ten directions at

288-566: The Sree Ramaseva Mandali , R.C.T (R.) Chamrajpet, organizes India's most prestigious, month-long classical music festival. The uniqueness of this 80 year old musical extravaganza is that celebrated Indian classical musicians, irrespective of their religion, from both genres – Carnatic (South Indian) and Hindustani (North Indian) – descend down to offer their musical rendition to Rama and the assembled audience. In eastern Indian states such as Odisha , Jharkhand , and West Bengal ,

320-483: The Jagannath temples and regional Vaishnava community observe Rama Navami, and begin preparations for their annual Jagannath Ratha Yatra in summer. Devotees associated with ISKCON fast throughout the day. A number of ISKCON temples introduced a more prominent celebration of the occasion of the holiday with the view of addressing needs of growing native Hindu congregation. It was however a notable calendar event on

352-574: The Rama temple. Details regarding the birth of Rama is mentioned in Valmiki's Ramayana and the Mahabharata. As noted, Rama was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in the city of Ayodhya . King Dasharatha had three wives - Kausalya, Kaikeyi and Sumitra , but remained sonless for many years. Desperate for an heir, Dasharatha organized a sacrifice to be conducted under the authority of

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384-623: The Ramayana and by singing bhajans of Tyagaraja and Bhadrachala Ramdas . The tradition continues in contemporary times in the Hindu temples of Durban every year. Similarly, in Trinidad and Tobago , Guyana , Suriname , Jamaica , other Caribbean countries, Mauritius , Malaysia , Singapore , and many other countries with Hindu descendants of colonial-era indentured workers forced to leave British India have continued to observe Rama Navami along with their other traditional festivals. It

416-594: The Ramayana, organizing ratha yatras (chariot processions), charitable events, hosting a wedding procession ( kalyanotsavam ) of Rama and Sita, and offering reverence to Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman who have played important roles in Rama's life story. Surya , the Hindu solar deity, is also worshipped among some communities. In Karnataka , Rama Navami is celebrated by the local mandalis (organizations) and streets, by dispersing free panakam (a jaggery drink) and some food. Additionally, in Bengaluru, Karnataka,

448-773: The Tulsidas's Ramcharitmanas. Rama Navami is one of the Hindu festivals that is celebrated by the Indian diaspora with roots in Uttar Pradesh and other states. The descendants of Indian indentured servants who were forced to leave India due to famines and then promised jobs in colonial South Africa before 1910 in British-owned plantations and mines, and thereafter lived under the South African apartheid regime, continued to celebrate Rama Navami by reciting

480-516: The birth of four sons, Dasharatha's desire was fulfilled. A number of cities mentioned in the Ramayana legends about Rama's life observe major celebrations. These include Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh), Rameswaram ( Tamil Nadu ), Bhadrachalam ( Telangana ) and Sitamarhi (Bihar). The rituals and customs associated with Rama Navami vary from region to region throughout India. Many of these traditions include reading and listening to discourses from

512-460: The childless Dasharatha, a divine being emerged from the flames with a golden vessel filled with divine payasam (a milk delicacy) prepared by the gods. Dasharatha offers half of this divine food to Kausalya , a quarter to Sumitra (i.e., literally 'half of that which remained'), an eighth to Kaikeyi (i.e., again, 'half of that which remained'), and then, upon reflection, gives the final eighth to Sumitra again. Consequently, Kausalya gives birth to

544-474: The culture of India is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This drink -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Rama Navami The Hindu calendar is lunisolar but most festival dates are specified using the lunar portion of the calendar. A lunar day is uniquely identified by three calendar elements: māsa (lunar month), pakṣa (lunar fortnight) and tithi (lunar day). Furthermore, when specifying

576-404: The future, as she wished for nothing right then and there. Under the custom of primogeniture, Dasharatha, with the approval of the royal assembly, selected Rama to be his heir. Kaikeyi was delighted and as happy as she would have been had it been her own son during the coronation. However, Manthara, Kaikeyi's nurse, feared that Kaikeyi would lose her status as chief queen at court if Rama ascended

608-458: The law of primogeniture . It is Manthara who educates Kaikeyi of the manner of succession. Kaikeyi's naive nature and gentleness were transformed into obstinacy and a hunger for power all in the name of her son Bharata's welfare. Bharata contests her views vociferously and despises her for her act of banishing the rightful heir Rama to the forest for punishing him for no fault of his own. King Dasharatha tries to reason with her, arguing in terms of

640-422: The live-streaming of the event across the globe. During Rama Navami, reading or listening from literature about Rama is a common practice. Reading the entire Ramayana (Hindu epic entailing the adventures of Rama) for a week leading up to Rama Navami is organized. The earliest version of the text was composed by the sage Valmiki . Tulsidas 's Ramcharitmanas , a later version of the Ramayana written in

672-498: The masa, one of two traditions are applicable, viz. amānta / pūrṇimānta . If a festival falls in the waning phase of the moon, these two traditions identify the same lunar day as falling in two different (but successive) masa. Rama Navami ( Sanskrit : राम नवमी , romanized :  Rāmanavamī ) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Rama , one of the most popularly revered deities in Hinduism, also known as

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704-420: The most influence. Formerly the princess of Kekeya , she is described to have served as an able counsellor to her husband during times of war. Initially loving and motherly towards her stepson, Prince Rama , Kaikeyi's mind is poisoned by Manthara , her maid. Under her influence, Rama is exiled to the forest for a period of fourteen years. Kaikeyi is born to King Ashvapati of Kekeya shortly before her mother

736-481: The sage, Rishyasringa , which concluded with a celestial figure that emerged from a fire with a pot of rice and milk. As instructed, the king divided the contents of the pot among his wives to drink. As a result, Kausalya gave birth to Rama on the ninth day of the bright half ( Shukla Paksha ) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), also known as Rama Navami. Furthermore, Kaikeyi gave birth to Bharata and Sumitra bore twins - Lakshmana and Shatrughna . Thus, with

768-412: The same time. In this battle, his chariot had to be turned to every direction in a swift manner. During the battle, the bolt of one of the wheels slipped out, and the wheel was about to disengage when Kaikeyi inserted her thumb in the hole of the bolt, and kept the chariot steady. When the king learnt of this, he was pleased, and offered her two boons. The queen said that she would ask for those two boons in

800-526: The seventh avatar of Vishnu . He is often held as an emblem within Hinduism for being an ideal king and human through his righteousness, good conduct and virtue. The festival falls on the ninth day of the bright half ( Shukla Paksha ) of the lunar cycle of Chaitra (March–April), the first month in the Hindu calendar . It is also part of the Chaitra Navaratri festival in spring. Rama Navami

832-427: The stability of the kingdom, the people's will, and the court's decision to crown Rama, none of which seems reasonable to her. Finally, King Dasharatha renounces her, and yet he is unable to separate himself from her. He lingers on in his grief in her chambers in fear of the humiliation from everyone outside those chambers. Kaikeyi is the eponymous narrator of Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel, a 2022 feminist retelling of

864-529: The throne as it was his older brother's birthright. He further blamed her for his father's death and swore never to address her as "mother" again. Realising her mistake, Kaikeyi repented sending her beloved step son away for fourteen years. After Rama's return, she apologised to him for her sins. Rama touched her feet and said there was no need to ask for forgiveness, as he did not feel bad about what happened. He insisted that Bharata forgive his mother. Further defending Kaikeyi, Rama also argued to Bharata that this

896-497: The throne, as Kausalya would thus become queen mother. She decided to instigate trouble. She tried to fuel Kaikeyi's jealousy and envy of Kausalya by reminding her that her son's coronation would give Kausalya her former status as the most important of Dasharatha's queens and would cut Bharata out of the line of succession forever, but this had no effect on Kaikeyi at the time. Manthara later convinced Kaikeyi to demand two boons granted to her years earlier by Dasharatha. King Dasharatha

928-560: The traditional Gaurabda calendar with a specific additional requirement of fasting by devotees. On April 17, 2024, the first Rama Navami after the consecration of Ayodhya's Ram Temple was celebrated by thousands of devotees across India. On this occasion, the Ram Temple witnessed a unique event at noon as the forehead of the Ram Lalla murti was anointed with a ray of sunlight, known as Surya Tilak . Scores of devotees watched

960-464: The vernacular of that time, is also popularly recited. The start of the composition of the Ramcharitmanas began on Rama Navami. A public dramatic performance, known as Ramlila , is annually hosted on the festivals of Rama Navami and Vijayadashami. Ramlila encapsulates the story of Rama through music, drama, dance and various other mediums. The enactments of Ramlila are inspired by

992-469: Was exiled. She was raised with her only mother figure being her hunchbacked nursemaid, Manthara . She is raised with seven brothers, including her twin, Yudhājit. Kaikeyi is married to the king of Kosala , Dashratha . She performs the Putrakameshti yagna alongside Dasharatha and his two other wives in hopes of blessings for children. At the sacrifice conducted by Rishyasringa to obtain sons for

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1024-489: Was obliged to fulfill them. Kaikeyi demanded that Bharata be crowned king, and Rama be sent to the forest for a period of fourteen years. Hearing this, Dasharatha fell into a swoon and passed the night in a pitiable condition in Kaikeyi's palace. Grief-stricken, Dasharatha died of a broken heart six days after he exiled Rama from Ayodhya. Kaikeyi came to blame herself for this death. Furthermore, Bharata swore never to ascend

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