Ratha Saptami

Date in 2026

Sunday, 25 January 2026

Masa

Magha

Tithi

Shukla Saptami

Duration

1 day

Observed in

All India; Tirumala and the Telugu states particularly

Significance

Ratha Saptami is the sun's birthday, and it marks the moment his chariot turns north. Surya's ratha has one wheel, seven horses for the seven colours and the seven days, and Aruna at the reins; on this day it is said to change direction, which is why the festival is also called Surya Jayanti and Magha Saptami. In practical terms it is the point at which the days are visibly lengthening and the cold is breaking.

The observance is built almost entirely around the pre-dawn bath. Seven arka or jilledu leaves are placed — on the head, the shoulders, the knees, the feet — and water is poured over them while facing east, before sunrise. The number is the sun's own; the leaves are the plant sacred to him. The bath is held to remove the accumulated ill of seven births, and it is one of the very few rites in which the physical act is the whole of it.

At Tirumala the day is the single busiest of the temple year outside Brahmotsavam, because the deity is taken out in seven different vahanams over the course of one day — a compressed version of the annual festival, so that those who cannot attend the full Brahmotsavam still see all of it. The word ratha in the name is the sun's chariot, and the temple's processions echo it.

When it falls, and why

Ratha Saptami falls on the saptami — the seventh tithi — of shukla paksha in Magha, placing it in late January or February, about three weeks after Makara Sankranti. Sankranti marks the sun entering Makara; Ratha Saptami marks the chariot's turn, and the two belong to the same seasonal movement.

The rule is arunodaya vyapini: the day taken is the one on which saptami prevails at arunodaya, the period roughly an hour and a half before sunrise, because that is when the bath is performed. This is unusual — most tithi rules use sunrise itself — and it means Ratha Saptami can fall on what a simple sunrise reading would call the sixth day.

Pooja vidhanam, step by step

1. 1

   Rise before dawn

   The bath is taken during arunodaya, before sunrise. This is the observance; everything else follows from it.

2. 2

   Place the seven leaves

   Take seven arka (jilledu) leaves. Place one on the head, one on each shoulder, one on each knee, one on each foot — or all seven on the head, as the household keeps it. A little akshata and turmeric on each.

3. 3

   Bathe facing east

   Pour water over the leaves and body while facing east, reciting the prayer to Surya. A river is preferred where practicable; water drawn the previous evening serves at home.

4. 4

   Offer arghya to the sun

   At sunrise, offer water from cupped hands to the rising sun three times, facing east, reciting the Gayatri or the Surya Gayatri.

5. 5

   Draw the chariot muggu

   Draw a muggu of the sun's chariot with its seven horses at the entrance, and place a lamp within it. This is particular to the Telugu observance.

6. 6

   Cook the naivedya on the fire outside

   Chakkara pongali or ksheerannam, traditionally cooked in the open in a new earthen pot and allowed to boil over. Offer to Surya first.

7. 7

   Recite

   The Aditya Hridayam — the hymn Agastya gave Rama before the final battle — or the Surya Ashtottara. Many read the Aditya Hridayam through in full on this day.

Samagri checklist

What to gather beforehand. Where something is not available, offer what you have — the intention carries.

• Seven arka (jilledu) leaves
• Akshata, turmeric, kumkum
• New earthen pot, for the naivedya
• Rice, milk, jaggery, ghee — for chakkara pongali
• Rice flour, for the chariot muggu
• Red flowers, especially hibiscus
• Ghee lamp, wicks, camphor, incense
• Water vessel for the arghya
• Fruit, coconut, betel leaves and nuts

The vrat katha

The account given is of a king named Yashovarma, who had one son and that son chronically ill. Told by a sage that the illness came from wrong done in a previous birth, he was directed to have the boy keep the Ratha Saptami vrata — the pre-dawn bath with the seven leaves and the offering to Surya. The boy kept it and recovered, and ruled after his father.

A second account belongs to Kashyapa and Aditi, whose son Surya was born on this tithi — which is why the day is Surya Jayanti as well as Ratha Saptami.

The Aditya Hridayam, recited on the day, has its own frame: Rama, exhausted before the last of the fighting at Lanka, was given the hymn by Agastya and told to recite it three times. The hymn is addressed to the sun as the one who dispels not darkness merely but weariness and doubt, which is a fair description of what the day is about.

How it differs by region

• In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana the day is kept with the arka-leaf bath, the chariot muggu at the entrance, and chakkara pongali cooked outdoors in a new pot.
• At Tirumala it is one of the busiest days of the year, with the deity taken out in seven vahanams in a single day — a compressed Brahmotsavam.
• In Karnataka it is kept at the Surya temples and with the same arka-leaf bath; in Tamil Nadu it is Ratha Sapthami with kolam of the chariot and offerings at Suryanar Koil.
• In Maharashtra and the north it is Surya Jayanti or Magha Saptami, kept with river bathing and arghya at sunrise.
• In Odisha and Bengal the day is kept with bathing at the sea and rivers, and Konark's associations with the sun's chariot are invoked.

Common questions

Slokas