Tulsi Vivaah..........Prabodhini Ekadashi...

A very holy plant is found in almost every Hindu household ….BASIL..Basil is worshipped daily.Tulsi is regarded as the incamation of  Goddess Mahalakshmi.Tulsi is venerated as a goddess in Hinduism and sometimes considered wife of Vishnu, sometimes with the epithet Vishnupriya, "the beloved of Vishnu". The legend behind Tulsi Vivah and its rites are told in the scripture, Padma Purana. 

Tulsi Vivah is the ceremonial marriage of the Tulsi plant (holy basil) to the Hindu god Vishnu or his Avatar Krishna. This ceremony can be performed any time between Prabodhini Ekadashi - the eleventh lunar day of the bright fortnight of the Hindu month Kartik to the full moon of the month (Kartik Poornima) but usually it is performed on the eleventh or the twelfth lunar day. The day varies from region to region. The Tulsi wedding signifies the end of the monsoon and the beginning of the Hindu wedding season.

As per Hindu mythology, Tulsi was actually a woman named Vrinda who was married to a demon king named Jalandhar. Vrinda worshiped Lord Vishnu and prayed for her husband to be invincible. No God was able to defeat Jalandhar because of Vrinda. However, Vishnu disguised himself as Jalandhar and violated Vrinda. Her chastity destroyed, Jalandhar was killed by Shiva. When Vrinda came to know about the truth, she cursed Lord Vishnu and turned him into a black stone (Saaligram) and burnt herself on her husband’s funeral. Lord Vishnu then transferred her soul in Tulsi plant and as a blessing married her in next birth as Saaligram. Since then the tradition of Tulsi Vivah came in existence.

The festival of Tulsi Vivah is celebrated in each and every household of Goa. The one special feature of the festival is that of preparing various delicious sweet dishes at home. The women folk engage themselves in preparations well in advance. A typical Goan ojhe (load of sweets) is sent to the daughter from her parental home along with Jodi (cotton threads used to light lamp while performing aarti). As part of the rituals, married Hindu women observed fast and prayed before the pious 'Tulsi' which later was married to Lord Vishnu. The Tulsi Lagna (Tulsi wedding) is symbolic of Lord Krishna (an avatar of Lord Vishnu) marrying the basil plant whose leaves he loved to wear as a garland.

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