Festival Tulsi, Vishnu, Krishna
Tulsi Vivah
The marriage of the tulsi plant to Vishnu as Shaligram or as Krishna, performed in the courtyard with a full wedding: a canopy over the pot, a thread, a sari for the plant, the mangalashtaka verses and a small feast.
Tulsi Vivah 2026 falls on Saturday, 21 November, computed for Chennai.
Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 21 November 2026
- Thursday, 11 November 2027
- Monday, 30 October 2028
Where Tulsi Vivah falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2026: 21 Nov
- 2027: 11 Nov, 10 days earlier
- 2028: 30 Oct, 11 days earlier
The dates, year by year
North India calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The marriage of the tulsi plant to Vishnu as Shaligram or as Krishna, performed in the courtyard with a full wedding: a canopy over the pot, a thread, a sari for the plant, the mangalashtaka verses and a small feast. It is the first wedding of the season, and in many families no daughter is given until it is done.
- Deity
- Tulsi, Vishnu, Krishna
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
The story behind it is of Vrinda, the wife of the demon king Jalandhara, whose devotion to her husband was so complete that it made him unconquerable; to end his war on the gods Vishnu took Jalandhara's form and broke her vow, and she cursed him to become a stone, the Shaligram, before she gave up her body. The tulsi grew from where she fell, and Vishnu, grieving, promised to marry her in that form and never to accept an offering without her leaf, which is why no bhog reaches him without a tulsi leaf on it. Couples who have no daughter take the part of the tulsi's parents and give her away, for the kanyadaan is held to be among the highest of gifts, and families with a daughter of marriageable age often perform the Tulsi Vivah first, as the opening of her own search. The wedding is played out in full, with the women singing the wedding songs, so the courtyard hears the season's first marriage music.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Tulsi Vivah: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the tulsi in its pot or chaura
- four sugar-cane stalks for the mandap
- mango leaves and marigold
- a red chunri and the suhag items
- a Shaligram or a small image of Vishnu or Krishna
- yellow cloth for the groom
- roli, turmeric, rice and flowers
- a cloth for the gathbandhan
- amla and an amla branch
- a ghee lamp
- sweets for the wedding feast
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The wedding bhog is what the season gives, sugar cane, singhara, amla, ber, sweet potato and guava, with puri, halwa, kheer or panchamrit. Maharashtra offers amla, tamarind pods, ber and sugar cane and throws akshata over the pair, and Karnataka lights small lamps set in halved amla.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 21 November 2026 at Chennai
Kartika Shukla Dwadashi at sunrise; the wedding itself is performed at dusk, the hour a marriage is held.
The main rite. The Dwadashi of the bright half of Kartik, with the wedding at dusk, the godhuli hour at which marriages are traditionally held; some families hold it on the Ekadashi evening, and Maharashtra on any evening up to the Purnima.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:10 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
| Sunset | 17:39 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 17:39 to 20:03 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:10, sunset 17:39, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Ekadasi from previous day 07:16 until 06:32 | then Shukla Dwadasi until next day 04:57 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Bhadrapada until 06:51 | then Revati until next day 05:55 |
| Rahu kaal | 09:02 to 10:29 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 13:21 to 14:47 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 06:10 to 07:36 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:32 to 12:18 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 14:50 | moonset next day 03:35 |
For Saturday, 21 November 2026 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
Those who keep the Ekadashi fast break it after this puja in some families. The amla branch and sugar cane are used for the canopy and eaten after.
What is avoided
No tulsi leaf is plucked on the day, since she is the bride, and the pot is not moved once the mandap is built. In the families that keep the two days together, those who fasted on the Ekadashi do not eat until the wedding is over.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka and the Hindi belt keep it; the far south keeps the tulsi puja in Kartika without the wedding. Traditions vary on the day, from Ekadashi to the Purnima.
In other regions
- Telugu
- The Telugu country keeps the Ksheerabdi Dwadasi with the tulsi and the amla branch worshipped together, and some families perform it as the Tulasi Kalyanam.
- Kannada
- Karnataka keeps it as Tulasi Habba on the Uthana Dwadashi, with an amla branch set in the tulsi pot for Vishnu and lamps lit in the courtyard.
- North India (the dates above)
- Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar hold the wedding at home and in the temples, and families with no daughter often perform it as their kanyadaan.
- Maharashtra
- Maharashtra holds Tulsi Vivah at dusk on any day from the Dwadashi to the Purnima, with the antarpat, the cloth held between bride and groom, the mangalashtaka sung and the akshata thrown, exactly as at a human wedding.
- Goa · Konkani
- In Goa the tulsi vrindavan is a built structure in the courtyard, whitewashed and painted for the evening, dressed as a bride with a mangalsutra and the end of a sari and canopied with sugarcane and an amla branch, and the lagn is a household wedding the whole wadi walks into, one courtyard after another down the lane.
The dates above are the North India reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
तुलसी विवाह की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएंTulsi Vivah ki hardik shubhkamnayein
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
Temples of Vishnu and Krishna near you
Not recorded for this day in particular: the nearest temples of the day's own gods, for a reader whose own temple is not listed above.
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Venkatakrishnan (Parthasarathy) with the arrow scars on his face
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · The eight forms of Lakshmi in shrines on four floors, facing the sea
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Adhivyadhihara Bhaktha Anjaneyar, thirty-two feet tall from a single block of granite
- Chennai, Tamil Nadu · Neervanna Perumal below and Ranganathar on the hill, in four postures
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
Read more Show less
A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules for a puja held alongside, whose day the family chooses
Tulsi Vivah's own date is set by the rule in "The hour" above, and no muhurtham moves it. For a wedding around it, whose day the family does choose, the finder below applies these rules.
Vivaha, the marriage itself. The grading is the Tamil almanac one: nine wedding months, the seven wedding tithis, the marriage stars, and Mithunam, Kanni and Thulam as the best lagnas. Tuesday and Saturday rule a day out, as no Tamil almanac prints a wedding muhurtham on either. Confirm the chosen day and hour with the family astrologer.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
Read more Show less
A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.