Rathasapthami 2013, The Festival of Sun God
Rathasapthami is a very propitious festival of Hindus which is dedicated to the God Sun. Meaning of ‘Ratha’ is ‘chariot’ and meaning of ‘saptami’ is the ‘7th day’. It is believed that on this day God Sun travel on his chariot in north-east direction towards the northern hemisphere. His chariot is drawn by seven horses, also represented by seven colors of rainbow or seven chakras. Seven days of the week are also represented by seven horses from which Sunday is the day of God Surya. There are 12 wheels of chariot and 12 signs of Zodiac are represented by these wheels. Leo is the house of Sun and he moves from one house to another every month and completes his cycle in 365 days.
This festival is celebrated on the seventh day of Hindu month Maagha and is generally falls in the month of February according to Gregorian calendar. This day is also celebrated as the birth day of Surya and is also called as Surya Jayanti.
This day is the starting of spring season in south India. Most of the farmers celebrate this day as the starting of New Year.
There are so many Surya temples located all over India. Some of these famous temples are Konark Sun temple in Konark, Orissa, Biranchi Narayan temple in Buguda, Ganjam district, etc. Sun temples are located in Modhera, Gujarat.
Rathasapthami is celebrated by Hindus in houses and all the Sun temples in different parts of India.
Rathasapthami 2013 Date: Sunday, 17 January.