Vivaah Rituals

Marriage of Shalagrama and Tulasi

• One must plant the Tulsi plant at home or forest and after three years one may perform her marriage.
• The Auspicious time to perform her marriage according to the Hindu tradition is:
• When the sun is moving in the north, Jupiter and Venus are rising, in the month of Kartika, from the Ekadashi to the full moon in the month of Magha, and when constellations that are auspicious for marriage appear, especially the full moon day.

• One should first arrange a place for sacrifice (yajna-kunda) under a canopy (mandapa)
• Then after performing shanti-vidhana, one should install sixteen goddesses, and do the shraddha ceremony for his female maternal ancestors
• For the Vivah, one must call four Brahmins well read in Vedas, and appoint one of them as priest, one as Brahma, one as rishi and the fourth one as Acharya.
• One should establish an auspicious water pot (mangala-ghat) under that mandapa according to the Vaishnava rituals followed by establishment of an attractive shalagrama-shila (Lakshmi-Narayana).
• During dusk one should install a golden deity of Narayan and a silver idol of Tulsi.
• With vasa-shanta mantra two cloths should be tied together, with yadavandha mantra the marriage bracelets (kangana) should be tied on the wrists, and with ko' dat mantra the marriage should be consecrated
• Finally the host along with the acarya, rishi, and others should make nine offerings in the yajna-kunda.
• After all the marriage rites and rituals have been successfully performed, the host along with wife and relatives should take a Parikrama around the Tulsi plant and offer food to Brahmins and other relatives.