Tulsi Vivah
The ceremonial marriage of the tulsi plant to Vishnu, on the Kartika bright twelfth — the season's first wedding.
Where it is kept Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Nepal; kept in Vaishnava households across India.
When it falls
Computed from the Moon's elongation from the Sun. The civil day is the one carrying the tithi running in Pradosh Kaal, the window after sunset.
Overview
A full wedding is performed, with a tulsi plant as the bride and a shaligram stone — or a brass image of Krishna — as the groom. There is a mandap over the pot, a cloth canopy, a sari and bangles for the plant, an antarpat held between the two, mangalashtaka verses sung, and a meal after. It is done in the Pradosh window at dusk.
It is the first wedding of the season, conducted before any human one, and in many households a daughter's marriage is not fixed before it is done.
Where it comes from
The story is Vrinda's, in the Padma Purana: a woman whose fidelity made her husband the demon Jalandhara invincible, and whom Vishnu deceived by taking his form so that the protection failed. Cursed by her, he became the shaligram stone; she became the tulsi plant, and he undertook to marry her in that form each year.
The narrative is not flattering to Vishnu and the tradition does not soften it. The annual marriage is presented in the text as reparation.
Why it matters
The tulsi is treated in Vaishnava households as a member of the family, watered daily and lamp-lit at dusk, and this is the day the relationship is formalised.
It closes the Chaturmas and opens the wedding calendar in practice: the tulsi's marriage precedes the household's.
How to celebrate
- Perform it at dusk, in the Pradosh windowThe customary hour for the rite.
- Do the full form — canopy, antarpat, mangalashtaka, and the meal afterIt is a wedding, and it is performed as one.
- Use a shaligram if you have one, otherwise a brass KrishnaBoth are accepted; the shaligram is the older form.
- Give the plant sugarcane, amla and the season's fruitThe customary offerings.
What to avoid
These are not all the same kind of thing. Some are prohibitions from a named text, some are Indian law, some are practical, and some are a confusion worth not repeating. Each item says which it is.
- Do not pluck tulsi leaves on the Ekadashi before it, or on the day itselfThe Padma Purana forbids it on Ekadashi; leaves for the rite are taken the evening before.
- Do not water the plant with anything but clean water on the dayIt is the bride.
- Do not perform a household wedding before it if your family keeps that orderThe custom is regional but firmly held where it exists.
Where this comes from
Everything above is either computed by this site’s own panchang engine, or drawn from the works listed here. Where a custom is modern, commercial or contested, the page says so rather than presenting it as ancient.
- Padma Purana, for the Vrinda and Jalandhara narrative and the origin of the tulsi and the shaligram.
- Skanda Purana, for the Kartika tulsi observances.
- Brahmavaivarta Purana, for the tulsi's identification with Vrinda.
Dates are computed for the place named above and will differ elsewhere. Regional traditions vary; where two reckonings are in use, both are named rather than one being chosen silently.
Other festivals
All festivals, with dates for any year · The calendar on the home page