Tulsi Vivah
The parv of Kartik Shukla Dwadashi, the day after Dev Uthani Ekadashi, when Tulsi is married to the Shaligram — Vishnu in his stone form — with full wedding rites at home. The plant is dressed as a bride under a mandap of sugarcane, the gathbandhan is tied, and the vivah is performed at godhuli bela like any other wedding. It celebrates the boon Vishnu gave Vrinda, and because the season's first vivah is the Lord's own, shubh weddings open only after it. Performing Tulsi's kanyadaan is held to carry the punya of a daughter's kanyadaan itself.
vidhi
Clean the tulsi chaura, or bring the pot to a swept spot in the courtyard, bathe the plant, and paint the pot with geru or decorate it with rangoli.,Raise a mandap over the tulsi with four stalks of sugarcane tied together at the top, and dress it with flowers and mango leaves.,Dress Tulsi as a bride — a red chunari over her, with bangles, bindi, sindoor and mehndi laid at her roots — and keep the full shringar there until the vivah is complete.,Seat the Shaligram — or a murti of Vishnu or Krishna — on a chowki beside her as the groom, bathe him with panchamrit and wipe him dry, then apply haldi to both bride and groom.,At godhuli bela, light the ghee lamp and tie the gathbandhan — a corner of Tulsi's chunari knotted to the cloth placed on the Shaligram.,A member of the family carries the Shaligram on a plate around the tulsi for seven parikramas, while vivah mantras or mangal geet are sung.,Offer the bhog — seasonal fruit such as amla, ber, singhara and seetaphal, with kheer-puri or sweets — and then do the aarti of Tulsi and Shaligram together.,Listen to the Vrinda katha, distribute the prasad, and the next day give the chunari and shringar items to a suhagin or a temple.katha
Vrinda was the daughter of an asura and the wife of Jalandhar, and her pativrata dharma was so complete that no weapon could bring her husband down. Made fearless by it, Jalandhar carried his war to the devas themselves, and even Shiv's trishul could not end him while Vrinda's vow stood unbroken. So Vishnu took Jalandhar's own form and went to her, and when Vrinda greeted him as her husband, the vow broke — and on the battlefield, in that same moment, Jalandhar fell.
When Vrinda understood what had been done, she cursed Vishnu: you were stone to me, so become stone. Vishnu accepted the curse — that is the Shaligram, the black stone of the Gandaki river in which he is worshipped without form. Vrinda entered the fire, and from her ashes rose the tulsi plant. And Vishnu gave her what her devering devotion had earned: you will be dearer to me than any offering, no bhog of mine will be complete without your leaf, and every year in Kartik, waking from my four months of sleep, I will wed you.
That is why the vivah follows Dev Uthani — the Lord wakes on Ekadashi, and his own wedding is the first of the season. Human weddings, held back through chaturmas, open only after Tulsi's.samagri
A tulsi plant in its pot or chaura, and a Shaligram or a small murti of Vishnu or Krishna,Four stalks of sugarcane for the mandap, with mango leaves and flowers,A red chunari and full suhag shringar — bangles, bindi, sindoor, mehndi, bichhiya,Haldi, chandan, akshat, roli, and a cloth for the gathbandhan,Ghee lamp with a cotton wick, dhoop, kapur and the aarti thali,Seasonal fruit — amla, ber, singhara, seetaphal — and the sugarcane itself as bhog,Kheer, puri or sweets for the bhog, and batasha for prasad,A kalash of water with mango leaves for the vivah rites
Today's panchang · Aaj ka rashifal