Ratha Saptami

Why is in news? Participants at a mass Surya Namaskar organised to mark Ratha Saptami in Mysuru

It was celebrated on 28 January across the country.

Ratha Saptami or Rathasapthami is a Hindu festival that falls on the seventh day (Saptami) in the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of the Hindu month Maagha.

It is symbolically represented in the form of the Sun God Surya turning his Ratha (Chariot) drawn by seven horses (representing seven colours) towards the northern hemisphere, in a north-easternly direction.

It also marks the birth of Surya and hence celebrated as Surya Jayanti (the Sun-god’s birthday).

Ratha Saptami is symbolic of the change of season to spring and the start of the harvesting season.

For most Indian farmers, it is an auspicious beginning of the New Year.

The festival is observed by all Hindus in their houses and in innumerable temples dedicated to Surya, across India.

Ratha Saptami also marks the gradual increase in temperature across South India and awaits the arrival of spring, which is later heralded by the festival of Gudi Padwa, Ugadi or the Hindu lunar New Year day in the month of Chaitra.

There are Surya temples all across India where Ratha Sapthami is fervently celebrated. However, the most famous one is the World Heritage Site of the Konarak Sun Temple, in Konark, Odisha.

Besides Konark, there is another sun temple in Odisha, the Biranchinarayan Temple, Buguda, Ganjam District.

There are sun temples in Modhera, Gujarat, created by king Bhimdev of the Chaulukya dynasty, in Arasavalli, Andhra Pradesh and in clusters of Navagraha temples in Tamil Nadu and Assam.

The Sun Temple at Martand (Jammu and Kashmir) and Sun Temple of Multan are temples, which were destroyed during Muslim conflicts in the past.