Rama Navami mood kicks off in Bengaluru

Ram Navami is usually celebrated on the ninth day (navami) in the shukla paksha of the Chaitra month every year, according to the Hindu calendar and will fall on April 10.

Ram Navami is usually celebrated on the ninth day (navami) in the shukla paksha of the Chaitra month every year, according to the Hindu calendar and will fall on April 10, Sunday, this year. The Significance of the festival is an indication of the victory of good over evil and establishment of the ‘Dharma’ to beat the ‘Adharma’.

An artist dressed as Hanuman danced in the street on the occasion of Ram Navami in Bangalore, Karnataka in 2018. (Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

It celebrates the arrival of Lord Vishnu’s seventh avatar, god Rama, who was born to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya, along with his three brothers Lakshman, Bharat and Shatrughan.

The main temples that worship Lord Ram in India are said to be the Ayodhya Ram Mandir in Uttar Pradesh, the Triprayar Sri Rama Temple in Kerala, the Kalaram Mandir in Nashik, the Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple in Telangana, the Ram Raja Temple in Madhya Pradesh, the Kanak Bhavan Temple in Ayodhya and the Shri Ram Tirth Temple in Amritsar, to name a few.

Why is Lord Ram worshipped?

It is said that people worship lord Ram for the way he conducted himself through the various trials and tribulations he was put throughout his existence on Earth. 

Lord Ram lost his kingdom which was rightfully his and ended up in a forest. He then lost his wife Sita after Ravan kidnapped her, he was then forced to fight a brutal war. After getting Sita back safely, he had to hear several uncharitable remarks about her, leading him to leave her back in a forest while she was pregnant with twins. He then had to fight a war again, this time with his two sons. He gets defeated by his sons and also learns that his wife has passed on. Throughout the series of disasters his life was, Lord Ram is said to have shown grace and calm. 

People worship the manner lord Ram led his life, never losing his dignity and grace. It is also believed that lord Ram's avatar was to show how a true king should behave and live.

In Bengaluru, the onset of every Ramanavami in the city brings decorations in the streets with serial sets and lights, with local Mandalis (organizations) celebrating the festival on public roads and even on footpaths, by dispersing free juice (called paanaka - made with jaggery and crushed musk melon), buttermilk, lemon juice and kosambiri (a salad-like dish made with lentils like moong dal, coconut shavings and cucumber).

In a pre-pandemic tweet, a user shared a picture of Rama Navami celebrations in the city with distributions of Kosambiri, juice and buttermilk.

However, the main event of the festival is a musical feast conducted by the 80-year-old cultural organisation Sree Ramaseva Mandali at Chamrajpet, Bangalore. In what is called the old essence of Bengaluru, the Sree Ramaseva Mandali organizes India's most prestigious, month-long classical music festival, where known and celebrated Indian classical musicians, irrespective of their religion, from both Carnatic and Hindustani genres come down to offer their renditions.

On Saturday, the mandali has organised a special Carnatic music concert by Abhishek Raghuram, Charulatha Ramanujam, Patri Satish Kumar and B Rajashekar, and a 75 musician ensemble will perform on Rama Navami, April 10, led By violinist Dr. Mysore Manjunath.