Hindu festival celebrating the birth of the deity Sita
Sita Navami (Sanskrit: सीतानवमी, romanized: Sītānavamī) is a Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of the goddess Sita, one of the most popular deities in Hinduism, and an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. It is celebrated on the navami (ninth day) of the Shukla Paksha (first lunar fortnight) of the Hindu monthofVaishakha.[1]
According to the Ramayana, the infant Sita appeared or manifested from a divine earthen pot in the kingdom of Mithila from a farm field to King Siradhvaja Janaka and Queen Sunayana.[2] According to regional tradition, this site is identified to be at the Punaura Dham of the Sitamarhi districtofBihar, India. The date and time of the manifestation of the infant Sita is recorded as the ninth day of Shukla Navami in the Vaishakha month of Pushyanakshatra in the Ramayana. It is said that when King Siradhvaja Janaka was ploughing the land with a plow, a part of his plough got stuck in the earth. On digging that place, he found an infant girl in an earthen pot. A tip of the plow is called Sita, and hence the girl was named Sita and was adopted as the king's daughter.[3] Sita later married Rama, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu. Sita is revered for her loyalty, devotion and sacrifice to her husband. She is considered the epitome of womanhood and is regarded as the ideal wife and mother in the Indian subcontinent.[3]
Sita Navami celebrates the anniversary date of the appearance or manifestation of Sita. On the occasion of Sita Navami, married women fast for their husbands's long life.[4]
