Rama Navami is a Hindu spring festival that celebrates the birthday of Rama, the seventh avatar of Vishnu. Rama is particularly important in the Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. The festival celebrates the descent of Vishnu as the Rama avatar, through his birth to King Dasharatha and Queen Kausalya in Ayodhya. The festival is a part of the spring (Vasanta) Navratri, and falls on the ninth day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) of Chaitra, the first month in the Hindu calendar. This typically occurs in the Gregorian months of March or April every year. Rama Navami is an optional government holiday in India.