Ratha Saptami is the seventh day of the bright half of Magha, kept as the day the Sun was born and the day his chariot of seven horses turns firmly towards the north. From here the days lengthen and warm. It is a morning festival: a bath at sunrise, milk boiled over in the open courtyard, and a chariot drawn in rice flour at the door.
The story
The Sun is the one god everyone can see, and tradition gives him this day as Surya Jayanti. His charioteer is Aruna, the dawn; his seven horses are the seven days of the week, or the seven colours of light; and the single wheel of his chariot is the year.
The bath this morning is taken with seven leaves of jilledu (arka, Calotropis) placed on the head and shoulders, with a few grains of rice and a regi fruit. The plant carries the Sun's own name, arka, and the bath is said to wash away the wrongs of seven lives.
సప్తాశ్వరథమారూఢం ప్రచండం కశ్యపాత్మజమ్ । శ్వేతపద్మధరం దేవం తం సూర్యం ప్రణమామ్యహమ్
Mounted on a chariot of seven horses, fierce, the son of Kashyapa, bearing a white lotus: to that Sun I bow
From the Surya Ashtakam
How the morning goes
- The arka-leaf bathTaken at sunrise, facing east, with seven jilledu leaves.
- Milk at sunriseMilk is boiled in the courtyard over a fire of dung cakes until it spills. Rice is cooked in it, and the paramannam is offered to the Sun on chikkudu (broad bean) leaves.
- The chariotA chariot and its horses are drawn in rice flour at the door, and children build small ones from broad-bean pods and sticks.
- Aditya HridayamThe hymn Agastya taught Rama on the battlefield is recited, and Surya Namaskaras are offered.
Why this date
Ratha Saptami is the seventh tithi (Saptami) of the bright half of Magha. The bath belongs to sunrise, so the calendar gives the day on which Saptami is in force at sunrise.
Ratha Saptami in other years
| Year | Date | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Sunday | |
| 2027 | Saturday | |
| 2028 | Thursday | |
| 2029 | Monday | |
| 2030 | Saturday | |
| 2031 | Wednesday |
More Telugu festivals
15 JanuaryMakara Sankrantiమకర సంక్రాంతి
6 MarchMaha Sivaratriమహా శివరాత్రి
14 JanuaryBhogiభోగి
16 JanuaryKanumaకనుమ
22 MarchHoliహోళీ
7 AprilUgadiఉగాది
Where to see Ratha Saptami
In the Telugu states
- Suryanarayana Temple, ArasavalliAndhra PradeshThe best-known Sun temple of the Telugu country, near Srikakulam; on this day the image is shown without its ornaments, as it is.
- Venkateswara Temple, TirumalaAndhra PradeshCalled the half-Brahmotsavam: the Lord is taken out on seven different vahanams between sunrise and nightfall, beginning with the Surya Prabha.
Across India
- KonarkOdishaThe thirteenth-century temple built as the Sun's chariot; pilgrims bathe at nearby Chandrabhaga beach on this morning.
- ModheraGujaratThe Solanki-era Sun temple, with its great stepped tank.
- Suryanar KovilTamil NaduThe Sun's temple among the nine planetary shrines around Kumbakonam.