Tulsi Vivah: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Tulsi Vivah is the wedding of the tulsi plant (holy basil) to Vishnu, in his form as the Shaligram stone or as Krishna. It is kept in the bright half of Kartika, on or just after Dev Uthani Ekadashi, when Vishnu is said to wake from his four months of rest. Families dress the tulsi pot as a bride, raise a small canopy of sugarcane beside it, and hold a short evening wedding with songs, a garland and sweets.

The tulsi plant is honoured as a goddess and is dear to Vishnu. Many Hindu homes keep one in the courtyard, on a balcony or by a sunny window, and light a lamp beside it in the evening. In many families the season of weddings begins after Tulsi Vivah. It is kept with special care in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and by Vaishnava families everywhere.

Why it is kept

Vrinda and Jalandhara. The Puranic story told for this day, as B. A. Gupte recorded it a century ago, is about a faithful wife named Vrinda. Her husband was the demon king Jalandhara, born from the ocean. He had a boon: he could not die while his wife stayed true to him alone. Made bold by this, he drove the gods out of heaven. To end the war, Vishnu came to Vrinda in disguise, as a holy man in Gupte's first telling, and her vow was broken. Jalandhara was killed. When Vrinda learnt the truth, she said that Vishnu would become a black stone, and he said that she would become a plant. So Vishnu is worshipped as the Shaligram stone of the Gandaki river, and Vrinda lives on as the tulsi plant. The story ends in love: the two are married every year, and the tulsi is honoured above all for her faithfulness. Gupte also gives the Padma Purana's telling, in which Vishnu comes in her husband's form and the tulsi grows from Vrinda's ashes, and the Brahmavaivarta Purana's, in which Tulsi is the wife of the demon Shankhachuda.

The tulsi leaf that weighed more than gold. A second story, also in Gupte's account, shows why a single tulsi leaf is offered to Krishna. Queen Satyabhama, proud of her wealth, was told that she could buy Krishna back from the sage Narada only with his weight in gold and jewels. All her treasure could not lift the scale. Queen Rukmini came, prayed to the tulsi plant, and laid one tulsi leaf on the scale, and it was enough. Love and devotion outweighed all the gold.

The wedding. Because Vishnu wakes on Prabodhini Ekadashi, the wedding follows his waking. Gupte writes that the wedding is held on a good day from the eleventh to the fifteenth day of the bright half of Kartika, and that it opens the marriage season. Monier-Williams, a century and more ago, also recorded that families marry the tulsi plant each year in Kartika, to an image of the young Krishna or to the Shaligram stone.

The texts behind the story

• Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials, with dissertations on origin, folklore and symbols, by B. A. Gupte (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1916) (“Tulsi's marriage”: the wedding between the 11th and the 15th of bright Kartik, the Vrinda and Jalandhar story, the marriage season, and the Padma and Brahmavaivarta tellings, pp. 225–228 (leaves n280–n283); Rukmini's tulsi leaf on the scale, pp. 228–230 (leaves n283–n285))
• Brâhmanism and Hindûism; or, Religious Thought and Life in India, by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, fourth edition (New York: Macmillan, 1891) (the marriage of the Tulasi to the Sala-grama stone in Karttika, pp. 334–335 (leaves n369–n370))
• The Vrinda and Jalandhara story in the Padma and Shiva Puranas, and Tulsi as the wife of Shankhachuda in the Brahmavaivarta Purana: Puranic tradition, read here only as Gupte summarises it. No Purana was read. Told in our own words, without the battle detail.

When it is kept

Tulsi Vivah is held in the bright half of Kartika, after Vishnu wakes on Prabodhini (Dev Uthani) Ekadashi. The app gives the Dwadashi, the twelfth lunar day, on the day it is present in the evening (pradosh, the first fifth of the night after sunset), because the wedding is done in the evening. If Dwadashi is present in pradosh on two days, the app gives the first. If it is present in pradosh on neither day, the app gives the day on which Dwadashi is present at sunrise. Many families hold the wedding on Prabodhini Ekadashi itself; when that day is different, the app shows it as the other date, as your tradition (Smarta or Vaishnava) computes the Ekadashi. Gupte's account allows any good day from the Ekadashi to Kartik Purnima, and the app names the Purnima day in its notes. Published calendars use the Dwadashi rule; no text was read for the pradosh window.

The date, from the calendar engine

• Tulsi Vivah 2027: Tulsi Vivah falls on Wednesday, November 10, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). The date is the same in New Delhi.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Published calendars: Kartika Shukla Dwadashi in pradosh; on two days, the first (engine id tulsi-vivah)
• Many families: Prabodhini Ekadashi itself, by the Smarta or Vaishnava Ekadashi rule (shown as the other date)
• Gupte's account: any good day from Kartika Shukla Ekadashi to Kartik Purnima

Why the day can differ

Families differ more than calendars do. Some hold the wedding on the Ekadashi, some on the Dwadashi, and some on another day up to Kartik Purnima. Sunset is local, so the Dwadashi day can differ between cities, and a family abroad can be a day apart from relatives in India. Follow your family's custom; the app shows both the Dwadashi and the Ekadashi.

How to keep it at home

1. In the morning, clean the place of the tulsi plant and water it. Some families keep a fast until the wedding in the evening.
2. In the evening, decorate the tulsi pot as a bride: a red or yellow cloth or a small sari, bangles, a bindi and a garland. Draw a rangoli around it. Tie three or four sugarcane stalks together over the pot as the wedding canopy (mandap).
3. Place a Shaligram stone, or an image or picture of Vishnu or Krishna, beside the tulsi as the groom. Offer water, sandal paste, flowers, a lamp, incense and seasonal produce such as sugarcane, water chestnuts, sweet potato and amla.
4. Hold the wedding as your family does: tie a sacred thread between the two, exchange garlands, and carry the Shaligram or image around the tulsi pot. In many families the household acts as the bride's family and gives the tulsi away (kanyadan), and the women sing wedding songs. A priest may chant the wedding mantras, or the family may simply sing and pray.
5. End with an aarti such as Om Jai Jagdish Hare, and share sweets and prasad as at a wedding.

Fasting

Fasting is a family choice. Some keep a fast until the evening wedding and break it with the prasad; others do not fast. If the wedding is on Ekadashi, the Ekadashi fast rules apply, with no grains or beans. Anyone who is pregnant, unwell, diabetic, elderly or on regular medicine should keep a light fast, or none, and talk to a doctor first.

Food

Seasonal food of the month: sugarcane, water chestnuts, sweet potato and amla. Families share wedding sweets such as laddoos, kheer, and in Gujarat and Maharashtra, sweets made with jaggery and sesame or with puffed rice.

For children

Long ago, Queen Satyabhama was very proud of her gold and jewels. One day she had to put gold on one side of a big scale, with Lord Krishna sitting on the other side. She piled on all her gold, bracelets and necklaces, but Krishna's side did not move at all! Then Queen Rukmini came. She had no pile of gold. She went to her tulsi plant, folded her hands and prayed. She took just one small tulsi leaf and placed it gently on the scale. Up went Krishna's side! One leaf, given with love, was worth more than all the gold. That is why families offer tulsi leaves to Krishna, and why they hold a happy wedding for the tulsi plant each year.

Something to do together

Help dress the tulsi pot as a bride with a ribbon, a paper garland and a little cloth. Then water the plant together, and each day for a week take turns to give it water.

Sources

• Panchang engine rule tulsi-vivah (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the Prabodhini Ekadashi alternative and the Gupte span note in packages/panchang/src/festivals/extras.ts, and the dates checked in packages/panchang/test/festivals-traditions.test.ts.
• Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials, with dissertations on origin, folklore and symbols, by B. A. Gupte (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1916) (pp. 225–230 (leaves n280–n285): Tulsi's marriage on a good day between the 11th and the 15th of bright Kartik, the Vrinda and Jalandhar story with the Padma and Brahmavaivarta tellings, the opening of the marriage season, the kanyadan custom, and Rukmini's tulsi leaf on the scale)
• Brâhmanism and Hindûism; or, Religious Thought and Life in India, by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, fourth edition (New York: Macmillan, 1891) (pp. 334–335 (leaves n369–n370): the Tulasi married to the Sala-grama stone in Karttika)
• A. Hudli, Ekadashi rules from the Nirnayasindhu, Dharmasindhu and Kala-Madhava (Advaita-L, 2010), and Vaisnava Events Calculation in GCAL (2008): the engine's Smarta and Vaishnava rules for the Prabodhini Ekadashi date shown as the other day.

Related guides

• Dev Uthani Ekadashi (Prabodhini Ekadashi)
• Kartik Purnima