[Advaita-l] DATE FOR SRI RAMA NAVAMI

[Ajit Krishnan]

There are two general schools of thought regarding the celebration of tithi
based festivals. Some choose the vedic day when a particular tithi occurs at
the time of observance, while others choose the vedic day when the tithi
occurs at sunrise. I have been taught to use the tithi at the time of
observance.

Based on my limited observations, smarthas seem to prefer the tithi at the
time of observance, while dvaitin-vaishnavas seem to prefer the tithi at the
time of sunrise.

The dvaitins always make reference to "shuddha tithis". When they celebrate
ekadasi, if even a tinge of dashami occurs after sunrise, they will pick the
next day. This is _mostly_ a round about way of picking the tithi based on
what prevails at sunrise. Some of them require "shuddha navami" on the day
they choose for observing Rama Navami.

Rama Navami observances are held during madhyahna kala (Rama is said to have
been born at noon) on Chaitra Shukla Navami. In Pittsburgh, Navami started
at 7:53am on the 29th and ends at 9:41am on the 30th. 

Navami prevails during madhyahna kala on the 29th, but prevails at sunrise
on the 30th. In my opinion, the 29th was the correct day. Even Punarvasu was
there for the day...

It is not surprising that the Sri Venkateswara Temple chose the 30th.

	ajit



> -----Original Message-----
> From: advaita-l-bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org [mailto:advaita-l-
> bounces at lists.advaita-vedanta.org] On Behalf Of Jaldhar H. Vyas
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2004 8:58 PM
> To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
> Subject: Re: [Advaita-l] DATE FOR SRI RAMA NAVAMI
> 
> On Mon, 29 Mar 2004, ravi chandrasekhara wrote:
> 
> > WHAT IS THE CORRECT
> > DATE FOR SRI RAMA NAVAMI IN THE USA ? THE HINDU TEMPLE
> > SOCIETY CALENDER IN FLUSHING, NY CLAIMS MAR 29. THE SV
> > TEMPLE IN PITTSBURGH CLAIMS MAR 30.
> >
> 
> Mar 30th seems to be correct.
> 
> --
> Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>
> It's a girl! See the pictures - http://www.braincells.com/shailaja/
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