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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. Its meaning is there: 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. It is an address rather than a request: 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 →