Happy Ratha Saptami!

Hey guys,

This is the main festival of Lord Sri Suryanarayana Swamy varu. Lord Sri Suryanarayanaswamy vari temples are two in India one is at Arasavalli 1 km away from Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh and another one at Konark. This is the main festival of Sri Suryanarayana Swamy varu.

In the universe, there may be people who do not believe in God but the God, which can be seen by every one, is Lord Sri Suryanarayana Swamy (Sun) who showers light on the entire living beings. Sun God is known as Aditya and showers his blessings on the entire world irrespective of the caste, color and creed. He energies the living beings with his rays. There are many names to Lord Viz., Savita, Ravi, Arkudu, Bhaskarudu, Banudu, Divakarudu.

Each name has its own effects. Over all Sun God is known as Aditya Hrudayam. It is a belief that our country goes into light from darkness from this day every year. The winter season ceases & spring season starts. Our bodies will have a chemical reaction with the sun rays & we become healthy. Mythologically, it is said to be Sun Gods birthday. Special rays & vibrations are supposed to be present in the temple premises & it is also said that devotees taking Teertha Prasadams will be blessed with wealth & health.

Lord Surya Narayana Swamy has a chariot with one wheel & there are seven horses representing the seven VIBGYOR colors of light. History says that Lord Rama worshipped Surya before killing Ravana.

On this auspicious day devotees in huge number have the Darshan of Lord Sri Suryanarayana Swamy and will be allowed to have Nija Rupa Darshan from 6am - 5pm.

"Harshavilli purivasam, Chayosha Padminiyutham
Suryanarayana Devam Nowni Sarvatha Dayakam"

The famous Sun God Temple is one of the ancient and all among two Sun God temples in our country. According to Padmapuranam, Sage Kasyapa installed the idol of Surya at Arasavalli for the welfare of mankind. Therefore, the Surya is of Kasyapasa Gotra. He is also termed as planetary Kind. The 'Sthalapuranam' of the temple narrates that lord Devendra had founded this temple and installed the existing idol of the Sun God commonly known as Lord Suryanarayana Swamy Varu under the following circumstances.

Once Lord Devendra, ignoring the words of Dwarapalaka Nandi, attempted to force his entry for Darshan of Sri Rudrakoteswara Swamy Varu at an untimely hour when Lord Siva was along with his consort. The Dwarapalaka Nandi in the discharge of his duties kicked the intruder. Thus kicked and injured by the Devine attendant Indra fell down senseless. And in his unconscious state Indra dreamt that he would be relieved of his pain of injury in his chest caused by Nandi if he built a temple and installed an idol of the Sun God. After regaining his consciousness, he remembered what he dreamt. Following his dream he picked up handfuls of earth three times at a place where he lay, and there he found this beautiful idol of Sun God with three consorts Usha, Chaya and Padmini At the base of the idols are the figures of Mathara and Pingala the Dwarapalakas and high up are the two divine saints, Sankara and Sanadana holding 'Chatrams'. The Sun God is depicted as riding over a chariot drawn by Anura, the Rathasaradhy. All these figures are exquisitely carved out of a single black finely polished granite stone.

Ratha Saptami in various years

Ratha Saptami falls on the following days in the respective years:

2011: Thursday, February 10
2010: Friday, January 22
2009: Wednesday, February 2
2008: Wednesday, February 13
2007: Tuesday, January 25
2006: Saturday, February 4
2004: Wednesday, January 28

Edited by JanakiRaghunath - 13 years ago

Happy Ratha Saptami !

thanks for the info .. never knew that a day is also celebrated on Lord Sri Suryanarayana 😛

n just come know know recently that show started on Surya Dev "Surya Puran" on Pragya channel
a the actress who played as shrutikriti (Annu Dangi ) is also there.

Originally posted by: ...PARiNA...

Happy Ratha Saptami !

thanks for the info .. never knew that a day is also celebrated on Lord Sri Suryanarayana 😛

n just come know know recently that show started on Surya Dev "Surya Puran" on Pragya channel
a the actress who played as shrutikriti (Annu Dangi ) is also there.

Edited by Vedo - 13 years ago

Edited by Vedo - 13 years ago

WOW, thanks for the info on Ratha Saptami, Vedo!😃 Actually, I only got to know about this holiday from my mom yesterday.😆 Before that, she always used to follow the holidays herself and keep fasts for them, but now she wants my sister and I to observe them as well so that we never forget them when we're older.

And thanks for sharing the videos. Arun, Sunil, and Swapnil all did an amazing job in the devotional episodes of Ramayan and Krishna.👏 I esp love the part in Ramayan where Ram learns the Aditya Hridayan from Aghastya Maharshi to achieve victory over Ravan, and the related-theme in SK where Krishna prays to Surya Dev before fighting with Kans. If one did not know the story already, they would be able to feel the foreshadowing of the ensuing events.⭐️
Edited by JanakiRaghunath - 13 years ago

Thank you Janaki di and Vedo! It was wonderful to read your beautiful posts and watching the SK and Ramayan videos! I personally was ignorant of this day. In marathi tradition, the celebration of Haldi Kumkum stops today. Thank you for informing me about this. So this is the day Suryadevji was born to Aditi maa. I was loving Swapnil's expressions. Soo much bhakti on the face of God himself! And the song in the last video is really very beautiful. "He Suryavansh ke mul nath, tava Raam kare shat koti naman..." Loved it! And all that information about the Akra leaf and how it relates to Surya dev and Konark is really very interesting.

I second Aishu in thanking you guys for these enlightening posts; I too wasn't aware of the occasion before reading them. The related write-ups and siggies were very very beautiful, as were the vids... I love all the prayerful moments in both shows and those three were among the best of them 😍

Here's another one that fits right in... Shri Ram reciting the powerful Aditya Hriday Stotra with Agastya Muni before bringing Ravan to justice... and that voice you hear is Arun himself singing 😃

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5hm2iglCAY[/YOUTUBE]
Edited by lola610 - 13 years ago

Hey Guys,