Tulasi Vivah on Uthana Dwadasi

This festival comes on Shukla Paksha Dwadasi, in the month of Karthik. This happens to be the last day of chatur maasa . On Uthana Dwadasi day Lord Vishnu is supposed to get up from sleep. It is said that a year in a humans life is one day to the gods. On Uthana Dwadasi day Lord Vishnu is stirring from his sleep. There are some stories connected to this too.

How to perform Tulasi Vishnu Vivaha

• On this day, Saligrama puja is important and Tulasi puja. In most houses Saligrama puja is performed and brahmin couples are given festival food and Tulasi Vivah is performed in the evening. After food, this couple are given thamboola and a minimum of blouse piece if not sari and shalya is presented along with Kheer Dana.
• For the evening naividya, 4/5 different kind of laddus and sweets are made, and also a flavored milk boiled well with sugar saffron and cardomom added. Koshambari is also made.

• An arathi is prepared as follows. On a plain silver or pithal plate draw a rangoli design with honey using a matchstick or a new toothpick. Over this sprinkle some Gasagase (poppey seeds) all over and then gently tap out the extra gasgase. You will now have a beautiful decoration on the plate. Over this arrange 5 amlas and wicks soaked in ghee over the amlas. 
• For the Amlas in the Arati, make a dough with Haldi posder and water. Prepare equal sized balls and over this place the Amla and the wick soaked in oil. This will help balance the Amlas and prevent them from rolling over.
• Decorate the frontyard of the house with mango leaves and rangoli. 
• Decorate the tulasi vrindavan - draw rangoli in front of the vrindavan. If there no place in the back yard for this , one may keep the pot or a small vrindvan with a tulasi plant near the god, for the puja.
• In the Tulasi vrindavan a small branch of amla is kept, a few amlas have also to be in the branches. Keep a small idol of Krishna in the Vrindavan, next to the plant and perform puja. Light as many lamps as possible. 
• You will need to get ready the naividya, the arathi, sweet smelling flowers, a pair small garlands. 
• Decorate the tulasi and put a few abharana( jewels, like we would decorate a bride). Sing songs and stotras to Tulasi and Krishna and Lakshmi, nd perform the puja.
• After the puja and before the various arathis, offer to the Lord and Tulsi, a sari and blouse and pair of dhotis offer haldhi kumkum and on to plate do the offer Mangala Dravya for Tulasi, then the naividya and the arathis. Puja is to performed with haldhi kumkum etc as we perform Lakshmi puja.

Prayers for Tulasi Pooja

Tulasi Praathane namah tulasi kalyaaNi namo vishhnu priye shubhe |namo moksha pradaayike devi namaH sampatpradaayike ||

Tulasige Namaskara
Yanmule sarva thirthani yanmadye sarva devatha |yadagre sarva vedashcha Tulasi thvam namam mayham ||

Tulasi Dyana
dyayescha tulasim devim shyamam kamala lochanamprasannam panmakalhara varabhaya chaturbhujakiritahara keyura kundaladi vibushitamdhavalankusha samyuktam nishedushim

Tulasi Ashhtottara Shatanamavali 

Click here for Tulasi Ashtottara Shatanamavali in English and Kannada 

The second half of Ashwija maasa and Kartic maasa are the darkest months of the year. Before the times of kerosene lamps and electric lights, it would have been very difficult to sight a village. When lamps are lit and kept in front of the houses in the evenings and early mornings the travellers could easily sight the village.

Amlas are given importance, as the coming months are cold with fog, which will cause cold etc. Amlas are an excellent source of Vitamin C, a preventive for winter ailments in the olden days.

In places where a Amla tree is present, it is worshipped and revered. It is said that every house must have an Amla tree, a parijatha flower tree and a tulasi plant. Some even say that a house without a tulasi plant, is equal to cemetery.

Growing a tulasi plant is not at all difficult only it needs to be watered every day.The plant has also be planted in a fairly big pot or brindhvan, so the plant will space for the roots to spread.

Any plant for that matter is like child. take care of it and it will grow well. The plant also needs to kept in sunny place. In summer when it is very hot, it can be watered twice or shifted to a shade.

Do grow a tulasi plant where ever you are.

Mangala Gowri Puja

How to Observe Mangala Gowri Puja?

Mangala Gowri Puja, or Shravana Mangala Gowri Puja, is an important Vratha observed by married women in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and by some communities in Maharashtra. It is performed for a happy married life and for the long life of the husband. It is observed on Tuesdays in the Shravan month (July – August).  Married women observe Mangala Gowri Puja in the first five years of their marriage. In the 5th year, the girl has to gift her mother a vessel with the mangala dravya. 

The method of performing Mangala Gowri puja varies from region to region. This is just to give an idea about the ritual. You can always be flexible in all Hindu rituals what matters more is devotion. And one should not ponder too much over the correct performance of rituals. Number 16 has special significance in this Pooja.

Requirements

• An image or idol of Goddess Gowri (Goddess Parvati) or five pyramid shapes made from turmeric powder.
• Kalasha
• Rice
• Jaggery
• 5 blouse pieces folded in a triangular pyramid shape
• 16 beetel leaves and 16 beetel nuts
• Cotton or flower garland - 16 ಎಳೆಗಳ ಹತ್ತಿ ಹಾರ
• Coconut broken into two halves
• 16 rice thambittu for neivedya and 16 rice thambittu for arathi.  16 cotton wicks are placed into it. Ghee is used as a burning fuel and all the 16 wick of the lamp are lighted.
• Flowers and Locally available fruits 

Preparation for the Puja

House and the puja room or area is cleaned. The shrine area is decorated with rangoli patterns.

House or the puja area is decorated with mango leaf festoons.

All items are kept ready.

The prasada menu or the fruits to be offered is decided.

The Puja

• On a flat wooden platform (maNe), spread a blouse piece.
• Over the blouse piece, rice is dropped in a plate or tray.
• The Kalasha pot half-filled with water is kept on the rice bed. The inside neck of the Kalasha pot is decorated with betel leaves, usually 5 in number.
• In front of the Kalasha, you can place either the silver Gowri or the turmeric Gowri.
• Place a mirror behind the mangala Gowri and 2 blouse pieces on either sides of the mirror folded in a triangular shape.
• A coconut is broken and one half each is placed on the sides of the kalasha on the blouse pieces. Betel nuts and betel leaves (8 in number, 16 total) are placed on either sides of the Kalasha with the cocunut.
• 3 pieces of cloth are folded like pyramid and placed at the back of kalasha.
• A silver glass filled with unhusked wheat and godi is placed on the right of the Kalasha.
• The Kalasha tray can be filled with turmeric, kumkum, sandalwood and other Pooja items.
• If you don't have a silver Gowri, a large piece of jaggery (the four corner one) is kept in front of the kalasha. Now u can place the five pyramid shape made from turmeric powder on the four corners of the jaggery and one in center. You can be flexible here. You can just keep an idol or picture of Goddess Gowri., if there is no jaggery, you need not worry about it.
• Decorate the turmeric pyramid or idol or picture of Goddess Gowri with turmeric, kumkum and flowers.
• Keep a steel spatula smeared with beetel leaf juice ready.

The Puja Begins

• Light the lamps
• Pray to the deity by offering flowers, gejje vastra, gandha/ sandal paste, manthrakshtathe, flowers, and lighting incense.
• Offer fruits or the prasada cooked. 
• Pray or meditate for few minutes – this includes asking for boon to deity during the Mangala Gowri Puja. Special prayer or Shloka is recited called Varava Kode in Kannada. (read below)
• Read or listen to the story associated with Mangala Gowri: Mangala Gowri Vratha and Kathe Audio Link
• While listening to the Vratha Story, light the 16 thambittu arathi. Hold the steel spatula over the lamps to get a black soot. This is collected towards to end of the pooja. Cold ghee is added to this and is applied as kajal.
• Invite women home and offer mangala dravya, rice thambittu and kajal. Pay obeisance to the women, God and the elders in family. By observing the vratha.

Mangala Gowri Shloka or song – Varava Kode in Kannada

A special prayer known as Mangala Gowri Haadu or Varava Kode is recited while performing the Mangala Gowri Vratha and Pooja. During the Shravana Mangala Gowri Puja in Karnataka there is a ritual of asking a boon to Goddess Gowri by women. The prayer or Mantra itself is in the form of asking the boon. The story narrated or listened to during the puja is also known as Mangala Gowri Haadu.

Varava Kode Thayi, Varava Kode

Varava Kode Gowri Varava Kode
Kattida Mangalya Karimani Gaajina Balae
Sthiravagi Iruvantha
Varava Koda
Arishina Kumukuma
Aralu Malligay Davana
Sthiravagi Mudivanta
Varava Koda
Mahadi Maneya Mele
Jodu Thottila Katti
Jogula Haaduvantha Varava Kode
Godana, Bhudana
Griha Dana
Kanya Dana
Maduvantha Varava Kode

Also Read: Mangala Gowri Puja Legend

Mangala Gowri Puja Legend

The various Vrathas that are observed in Hinduism is based on a story. The general idea of the story remains the same but the characters and incidents change from region to region. This Shravana Mangala Gowri Vrata Katha is from Karnataka known as Mangala Gowri Haadu. The shloka or song (prayer) narrated during the puja is also referred as Mangala Gowri Haadu.

Long long ago a boy who was studying under a guru went from house to house seeking alms. This was a tradition then and the Guru and shishya only took what was needed for the day. But strangely this boy refused alms given by the queen of the land and took alms from other women. The king and the queen of the land were staunch Shiva devotees but did not have any children.

The queen and the king discussed this strange incident and the next day, the queen again offered rice to the young boy. But the boy did not accept it. The king came and asked why he was not taking the rice from the queen. The boy said that the king and queen did not have children and it would not be wise to take alms from a couple who is unlucky. The king got angry and said only Lord Shiva can decide who should be lucky and unlucky. The king who was an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva soon realized that the boy was Shiva in disguise. He then prayed to forgive his arrogance and asked to be blessed with a child. Shiva blessed the couple but said their child will only live for sixteen years.

A boy, Chandrasekhar, was born to the couple and soon time passed by and the boy became a teenager. The king and the queen remembered the words of Shiva and decided to send young Chandrasekhar, who was fifteen, to Kashi. It is believed that those who die at Kashi will never be born again. Young Chandrasekhar was informed about his fate and without any other option he followed his uncle to Kashi. On the way, the young boy saw several new things. In a garden, they met a lovely princess. The boy and the uncle heard the princess discussing the glory of Mangala Gowri Puja. It was the Shravan month and the girls were performing the Mangala Gowri Vratha. The princess was saying that whoever she marries will live a long life because she performs the Mangala Gowri Puja with pure heart and devotion.

The boy and the uncle moved forward and they met a prince who was sick. He explained to them that he was to marry the princess of the kingdom tomorrow but he was ashamed to go in front of people as he has fallen sick. The prince asked Chandrasekhar to help him out by appearing in the marriage function. Chandrasekhar agreed. Young Chandrasekhar appeared as the groom and the first day of the marriage function passed away smoothly. That night Chandrasekhar was to turn sixteen. He explained about his fate and about the real prince to the princess and decided to leave next morning to Kashi.

But that night the princess saw a snake approaching Chandrasekhar; she grabbed a handful of unbroken grains used to perform Mangala Gowri Puja and threw it on the snake. The snake fell dead. She took the snake and hid it in the Kalash used to perform the Mangala Gowri Puja. Chandrasekhar left the next morning and he left his wedding ring there. The other prince took the place for the day’s wedding ceremony but the princess was not ready to marry him. She said firmly that Chandrasekhar was her husband and she will only sit next to him.

Chandrasekhar reached Kashi and a year passed. He did not die. The strength and devotion with which the young princess performed the Mangala Gowri Puja saved him. While returning back to his kingdom, Chandrasekhar again reached the same spot. He longed to see the young princess even though he believed that she was happily married to the prince.

Chandrasekhar heard that the princess was in the habit of feeding all the people who passed by her kingdom. He went and sat among the people who was partaking the food offered by the princess. Soon the princess appeared. She was closely examining all the people who were eating. She has been doing this from the day Chandrasekhar left; she was sure that one day he will pass by her kingdom.

In no time, the young princess recognized Chandrasekhar. She showed him the wedding ring. The young Chandrasekhar could not control his tears. He said he did not die. The princess said she knew it and explained what happened on the night when he turned sixteen.

Soon they got married and lived happily there after.

Also Read How to Observe Mangala Gowri Puja?