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A pot topped with a coconut, wound in garlands of white and red flowers and framed by banana leaves.
A kalasha dressed for puja, Karnataka — MikeLynch, 2011

Tulsi & Shaligram (Vishnu) · 60 minutes, evening

Tulsi Vivah — the goddess's wedding

Kartik Shukla Dwadashi (21 Nov 2026; 11 Nov 2027)

In the simplest words

Marrying the tulsi plant to Vishnu — a tiny mandap around her pot, a shaligram or Krishna murti as groom, and the season's first wedding songs.

The day after Vishnu wakes, the household holds an actual wedding — bride: the tulsi of the courtyard; groom: Shaligram or Krishna's image; guests: everyone. It opens the marriage season with the tenderest theology in the calendar: devotion itself given in marriage to the divine.

Perform this puja

5 steps, one at a time, with the lamp, the mantras and the bell — on this screen.

Samagri — what you need

0/7 gathered

The vidhi, step by step

0/5 done

  1. Raise the mandap

    Sugarcane arched over tulsi, rangoli around, lamps at the corners — the courtyard becomes a wedding ground.

  2. Dress the bride & groom

    Tulsi in chunari and bangles, bindi and mangalsutra by custom, haldi touched to her leaves; Shaligram/Krishna in new cloth, seated facing her.

    ॐ तुलस्यै नमः

    Oṁ Tulasyai Namaḥ

    Om, salutations to Tulsi. The name is heard as 'the incomparable one' — a goddess who chose the form of a courtyard plant, holy enough that a single leaf completes Vishnu's worship. Her mantra accompanies the humblest daily acts, and that is its meaning: the divine consents to be tended.

    Source: Traditional nāma-mantra

  3. The granthi-bandhan

    The moli joins the groom's seat to tulsi's stem — the knot of the wedding — while the Vishnu mantra is sung.

    ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय

    Oṁ Namo Bhagavate Vāsudevāya

    Om, I bow to Bhagavan Vasudeva. Vasudeva is Krishna as the indwelling one — from vas, to dwell: he in whom all beings live and who lives in all beings. Twelve syllables long, the mantra is the Bhagavata tradition's whole path in one line — not a request but an address: turning toward the person of the divine and handing oneself over.

    Source: Bhāgavata tradition (Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

  4. Pheras of the pot

    The family carries the groom around tulsi (or circles the pair) — traditionally seven rounds, with akshat showered as at any wedding.

  5. Aarti, feast, vidai-less vidai

    The seasonal naivedya offered, then the wedding aarti; the naivedya shared as the marriage feast. No vidai here — the bride stays home, which is the whole point.

Note: Some regions marry tulsi on Devutthana Ekadashi itself, others on Dwadashi — both live in the calendar. Whoever gives tulsi's kanyadaan traditionally earns a daughter's-wedding merit; couples who have no daughter especially cherish the rite.

Tulsi Vivah →Devutthana Ekadashi →