Ratha Saptami 2027 — Saturday 13 February
రథ సప్తమి 2027
Magha Shudda Saptami — Surya Bhagavan's birth day · Surya Jayanti / Magha Saptami / Achala Saptami · Aruna-Snana muhurat 04:52 – 06:28 IST · Arghyadana at sunrise 06:28 IST · Suryodaya puja 06:28 – 08:00 IST (Hyderabad). Bath before sunrise with 7 Jilledu (Calotropis) leaves is the signature ritual.
Ratha Saptami 2027 (also called Surya Jayanti / Magha Saptami / Achala Saptami) falls on Saturday, 13 February 2027. Sun-god's (Surya Narayana) birthday. Marks the Sun's chariot (Ratha) turning northward — symbolic start of the "warming" phase (though astronomical Uttarayana already begun on Makar Sankranti, Ratha Saptami is the traditional/observational marker in South India). At Tirumala, the Ratha Saptami festival is Suryaprabha Vahana Seva → Chinna Sesha Vahana → Garuda Vahana → Hanumanta Vahana → Kalpa Vriksha Vahana → Sarva Bhupala Vahana → Chandraprabha Vahana in one day (7 vahanas honoring the 7 horses of Surya's chariot). Primary observance: Aruna Snana (pre-dawn sacred bath with 7 Calotropis / Jilledu leaves on head + shoulders), Suryodaya Arghyadana (offering water to rising sun), Surya Namaskara 108, Aditya Hrudayam parayanam, Surya Ashtottara, Tirumala 7-vahana seva watch, rice-milk-jaggery naivedyam. Recommended muhurat: Aruna-Snana muhurat 04:52 – 06:28 IST · Arghyadana at sunrise 06:28 IST · Suryodaya puja 06:28 – 08:00 IST (Hyderabad). Bath before sunrise with 7 Jilledu (Calotropis) leaves is the signature ritual..
Ratha Saptami 2027 — Date & Muhurat
| Festival Date | Saturday, 13 February 2027 |
| Telugu Masa & Tithi | Magha Shudda Saptami — Surya Bhagavan's birth day |
| Primary Muhurat | Aruna-Snana muhurat 04:52 – 06:28 IST · Arghyadana at sunrise 06:28 IST · Suryodaya puja 06:28 – 08:00 IST (Hyderabad). Bath before sunrise with 7 Jilledu (Calotropis) leaves is the signature ritual. |
| Alternative Names | Surya Jayanti / Magha Saptami / Achala Saptami |
All timings computed using Lahiri Ayanamsa Swiss Ephemeris for Hyderabad (17.385°N, 78.486°E). For exact local timings in other cities use our Today's Panchangam tool.
Significance of Ratha Saptami 2027
Sun-god's (Surya Narayana) birthday. Marks the Sun's chariot (Ratha) turning northward — symbolic start of the "warming" phase (though astronomical Uttarayana already begun on Makar Sankranti, Ratha Saptami is the traditional/observational marker in South India). At Tirumala, the Ratha Saptami festival is Suryaprabha Vahana Seva → Chinna Sesha Vahana → Garuda Vahana → Hanumanta Vahana → Kalpa Vriksha Vahana → Sarva Bhupala Vahana → Chandraprabha Vahana in one day (7 vahanas honoring the 7 horses of Surya's chariot).
Key Rituals on Ratha Saptami 2027
Aruna Snana (pre-dawn sacred bath with 7 Calotropis / Jilledu leaves on head + shoulders), Suryodaya Arghyadana (offering water to rising sun), Surya Namaskara 108, Aditya Hrudayam parayanam, Surya Ashtottara, Tirumala 7-vahana seva watch, rice-milk-jaggery naivedyam.
Ratha Saptami 2027 Puja Samagri Checklist (Shopping List)
Items to procure 1-2 days before Ratha Saptami 2027:
| # | Item |
|---|---|
| 1 | Jilledu (Calotropis) leaves — 7 pieces (for bath) |
| 2 | Fresh milk + rice + jaggery (Ksheerannam naivedyam) |
| 3 | Copper tumbler (for Arghyadana) |
| 4 | Red + orange flowers |
| 5 | Akshat + kumkum + turmeric |
| 6 | Coconut + bananas |
| 7 | Sandalwood paste (red) |
| 8 | Sun (Surya) yantra / picture |
| 9 | Camphor + ghee lamp |
| 10 | Naivedyam: Ksheerannam (rice pudding with milk and jaggery) |
| 11 | Ganga water / river water for Arghyadana |
Regional Variations of Ratha Saptami 2027
Tirumala (AP): 7-Vahana Seva in a single day — one of the biggest Ratha Saptami celebrations in the world. Tamil Nadu: Suryodaya bath at Kumbakonam Suryanar Kovil (only Navagraha Surya temple). Karnataka: Bhaskara Puja + rice-milk offering. North India: Achala Saptami / Magha Saptami — bath in Ganga at Prayagraj / Varanasi. Odisha: Konark Sun Temple special worship. Universal: pre-dawn oil bath is the signature ritual.
The Sun's Chariot Turns
Ratha Saptami is kept as Surya Jayanti — the day the tradition assigns to the Sun's own appearance — and as the day his chariot turns. It is the only major observance of the year addressed to Surya as the deity of the day rather than as one of the nine grahas, and almost everything done on it is done at or before dawn.
The chariot the festival is named for is described the same way everywhere it is described at all. It has a single wheel, it is drawn by seven horses, and Aruna, the elder brother of Garuda, holds the reins. The tradition reads the one wheel as the year and its spokes as the months, and the seven horses as the seven colours that together make one light and the seven metres in which chant is set. Ratha is that chariot and saptami the seventh day of the bright fortnight on which it is said to turn — the two words are the whole festival.
The turn is north-eastward, and it falls after the sun has already entered Makara. That is why the day is not the solstice reckoning but something else: the point at which the lengthening light becomes plainly felt rather than merely calculated. The agricultural year treats it as the opening of the warm season, and the observance carries the sense of a beginning.
The day is also called Arogya Saptami, and tradition links it to recovery from long illness. The account most often recalled is of Samba, afflicted and healed through sustained worship of the Sun, and the practice that follows from it is the pre-dawn bath with the arka leaf rather than any medicine. Households keep it for health in the plainest sense, which is why it is observed in many homes that keep no other vrata in the month.
Ratha Saptami Puja Vidhi — Step by Step
The whole observance is built around the sunrise, so the sequence runs backwards from it. The day's sunrise and the arghya window are in the panel above, computed for the city.
| Step | What is done |
|---|---|
| 1 | Arunodaya snanam — Bathe in the arunodaya hour — the period before the sun is up, while the sky has reddened. This is the single most emphasised act of the day, and the bath is taken in a river, tank or the sea where one is reachable and at home where it is not. |
| 2 | The seven arka leaves — Place leaves of the arka plant — jilledu in Telugu, erukku in Tamil, the milkweed Calotropis gigantea — on the head, the two shoulders, the two knees and the two feet, seven in all, and pour the water over them. The arka is Surya's own plant and this is what makes the bath a Ratha Saptami bath rather than an ordinary one. |
| 3 | Arghya to the rising sun — Offer water from a copper vessel to the sun as it rises, facing east, with red flowers, chandanam, akshat and a little jaggery added to the water. The offering is customarily made three times, standing. |
| 4 | Surya Namaskara with the twelve names — Perform the salutations with the dvadasha nama — Mitra, Ravi, Surya, Bhanu, Khaga, Pushan, Hiranyagarbha, Marichi, Aditya, Savitr, Arka and Bhaskara — one name to each round. |
| 5 | The chariot at the threshold — Draw a chariot drawn by seven horses in muggu or rangoli at the doorway, and set a lamp in it. In many households the children draw it, and in some a small wooden ratha carrying an image of Surya is pulled through the house. |
| 6 | Surya puja and the Aditya Hridayam — Worship the Sun at the household altar or at a Surya shrine with red flowers — chitramati, mandara, or any red bloom — and recite the Aditya Hridayam, which tradition remembers as Agastya's instruction to Rama before the battle, and the Surya Ashtottara. |
| 7 | Naivedyam — Offer ksheerannam or chakkara pongali — rice cooked with milk and jaggery — along with fruit and jaggery, and distribute it as prasada. |
| 8 | Daana — Give away wheat, jaggery, red cloth, copper, ghee and red flowers, which are the things the tradition names for Surya. Feeding is the giving most commonly kept. |
| 9 | Parana — Release the fast after the midday offering, with the prasada taken first. |
If the arunodaya bath is the only part of the day that can be kept, keep that. Every account of the observance treats the bath and the arghya as the irreducible core and the rest as what is added to them.
Fasting on Ratha Saptami
The fast is a day fast released at midday, and it is lighter than the ekadashi or shivaratri fasts because the day's weight sits on the bath rather than on abstention.
| Form | What it involves |
|---|---|
| Upavasa till the midday offering | Fruit, milk and water after the arghya, released once the naivedyam has been offered. The usual grade. |
| Ekabhukta | One sattvic meal after the morning worship and nothing further until the next sunrise. |
| Bath and arghya only | The pre-dawn bath, the arka leaves and the arghya, with the household eating normally. This is the accepted form for children, the elderly, anyone unwell and anyone keeping the day for health. |
| Seven-saptami observance | Some families keep the vrata on the saptami of seven successive months rather than on this one day alone, with the bath and the arghya each time and the fuller worship on the Magha one. |
No grade of the fast requires skipping the bath, and no grade of the bath requires fasting. The two are separable and a household that keeps either has kept the day.
Mantras Chanted on Ratha Saptami
The mantras of the day are all addressed to the Sun, and all of them are said standing, facing east, while the water is being offered.
| Mantra | What it means |
|---|---|
| ఓం సూర్యాయ నమః Om Suryaya Namah | The simplest form, said with each offering of water and with each round of the salutations. A household that knows nothing else says this. |
| ఓం ఘృణిః సూర్య ఆదిత్యః Om Ghrinih Surya Adityah | The Surya mantra said at the arghya and during the japa that follows it. Kept at a steady count rather than a large one. |
| ఓం భూర్భువస్సువః | తత్సవితుర్వరేణ్యం | భర్గో దేవస్య ధీమహి | ధియో యో నః ప్రచోదయాత్ || Om bhur bhuvah svah, tat savitur varenyam, bhargo devasya dhimahi, dhiyo yo nah prachodayat | The Gayatri, which is addressed to Savitr — the Sun as the impeller — and is therefore the day's own mantra. Said at the sandhya after the bath by those entitled to it. |
| జయతు జయతు సూర్యనారాయణ Jayatu jayatu Suryanarayana | The line of acclamation sung at Surya shrines through the morning, and at the drawing of the small chariot where that custom is kept. |
Chant at whatever pace lets the words stay clear. Tradition counts attention, not speed, and a short count said with care is held better than a long one rushed. If a syllable is uncertain, follow your family priest or your temple's recitation rather than a transliteration.
How Ratha Saptami Is Kept Region by Region
Ratha Saptami is a household observance almost everywhere and a very large temple day in a few places, and those few places are where the Sun has an old shrine of his own.
| Region | How the day is kept |
|---|---|
| Tirumala | The one day of the year on which the processional deity is taken out on seven vahanas between dawn and night, beginning on the Surya Prabha vahanam and closing on the Chandra Prabha. The day compresses a whole brahmotsavam into a single one and draws crowds on that account. |
| Arasavalli, Andhra Pradesh | The principal Surya kshetra of the Telugu country, near Srikakulam, where Ratha Saptami is the temple's largest festival. The shrine is built so that the sun's rays reach the feet of the deity through the doorway on certain days of the year, and pilgrims bathe in the temple tank before dawn. |
| Konark and Chandrabhaga, Odisha | The Magha Saptami bath at Chandrabhaga near the Konark sun temple is one of the oldest gatherings of the day. Pilgrims bathe at the sea at first light and then offer the arghya facing the temple, which is itself built as Surya's chariot in stone. |
| Tamil Nadu | Kept as Surya Jayanti, with the principal observance at Suryanar Kovil near Kumbakonam, the Navagraha temple of the Sun. Households take the dawn bath with erukku leaves and offer sakkarai pongal. |
| Karnataka | The arka-leaf bath and the Surya namaskara are kept in households, and Vishnu temples hold a rathotsava on the day, the Sun being worshipped as Surya Narayana rather than separately. |
| Maharashtra and the north | Kept as Achala Saptami or Surya Jayanti, with a bath in a river at dawn, the arghya, and the Ratha Saptami vrat. Giving wheat, jaggery and red cloth is the customary charity. |
| Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh | The arghya is offered standing in water at sunrise, in the same form the region keeps at Chhath, at the Surya shrines that are more numerous here than anywhere else in the country. |
Why the arka leaf and not another
The arka — jilledu, erukku, the milkweed with the pale purple flower that grows on waste ground across the Deccan — is the plant the tradition assigns to Surya, and the day's bath is defined by it. Seven leaves are used, one for the head, one for each shoulder, one for each knee and one for each foot, and the water is poured over them so that it reaches the body through the leaf.
Where the plant cannot be found, the leaves are brought the previous evening and kept in water, or a single leaf is used for the head alone, which is the shortened form families in cities keep. What is not done is substituting a different leaf: the arka is the point, and a bath without it is simply a cold bath taken early.
The same plant supplies the flowers offered in the puja and, in some households, the leaf on which the naivedyam is placed. Its milky sap is an irritant and is kept away from the eyes, which is the one practical caution the custom carries.
Arogya Saptami — the day kept for health
Of the Sun's several names for this day, Arogya Saptami is the one households use most, and the observance is widely kept by families with someone recovering from a long illness. The reasoning the tradition gives is direct: the Sun is the source of vitality, the seventh day of the bright fortnight of Magha is his, and the bath and the arghya are the way the request is made.
What the custom actually prescribes is modest and worth keeping on its own terms — rising before dawn, bathing, standing in the first light of the day, and offering water. It asks for nothing that could displace treatment, and the tradition nowhere presents the vrata as a substitute for it.
The giving attached to the day follows the same theme. Wheat, jaggery, ghee and red cloth are given for Surya, and feeding others is the form most households keep, which is why the day is quietly one of the larger annadanam days of the Magha month.
More Questions About Ratha Saptami
What does "Ratha Saptami" mean?
Why are seven arka leaves used in the bath?
Is Ratha Saptami the same as Makara Sankranti?
Can Ratha Saptami be kept without a river?
Why is it called Arogya Saptami?
What is offered as naivedyam?
Is Ratha Saptami a good day to begin something new?
Points Households Most Often Get Wrong
| # | Point |
|---|---|
| 1 | Bathing after the sun is up — The arunodaya hour, before sunrise, is the window the observance is built on. A bath taken after sunrise is an ordinary bath and the day's central act has been missed. |
| 2 | Using any milkweed or any convenient leaf — It is the arka — jilledu or erukku — specifically, seven leaves on seven places. The leaf is what distinguishes this bath from every other. |
| 3 | Treating the day as the start of Uttarayana — That reckoning belongs to Makara Sankranti. Ratha Saptami falls after it and marks the chariot's turn to the north-east, which is a separate idea in the tradition and not a second solstice. |
| 4 | Offering the arghya seated or facing another direction — The offering is made standing, facing east, to the sun as it rises. It is one of the few household rites the tradition specifies this closely. |
| 5 | Keeping the fast and skipping the giving — Daana is named for this day as explicitly as the bath. Wheat, jaggery, ghee, copper and red cloth are what is given, and feeding others counts. |
| 6 | Assuming it is only a temple festival — The large observances at Tirumala, Arasavalli and Konark draw the attention, but Ratha Saptami is a household vrata first and nothing in it requires a temple or a priest. |