Tulsi Vivah marks the start of city’s Hindu wedding season

THANE: Several households in the Lake City were lit up and decorated with diyas and kandeels on Monday, as families got together to celebrate Tulsi Vivah. People were seen dressing up their sacred Tulsi plant as a bride to enact the ceremonial marriage of Tulsi sapling with Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.
The festival is celebrated at a grand scale with lots of fire crackers, decoration and good food, just like a wedding.
The Tulsi wedding signifies the end of the monsoon and the beginning of the Hindu wedding season. Talking about the significance of this ritual, a city-based astronomer, D K Soman said, “Tulsi Vivah began to encourage people to keep tulsi plant in their homes, as it is considered to be good for health. An idol of Lord Krishna is kept in the Tulsi vrindavan and enact the matrimonial ceremony between the two. All marriage rituals are performed on this occasion. The wedding is followed by dinner, just like any other wedding.”
Hectic lifestyles have forced people to tweak the ways of celebrating the festival.“In today’s modern homes it is difficult to have a courtyard with a vrindavan and a tulsi sapling in it. Once we had planted a tulsi sapling in our balcony, but the birds kept pecking at it. So now, we observe Tulsi Vivah by decorating any small plant as a bride and keep a black stone, resembling Lord Krishna, all other rituals are followed. We light a diya and explain its relevance to our kids to keep the tradition alive,” said Kameshwari Kulkarni, a Vartak Nagar resident.