and the newly risen sun, women use turmeric to draw on the ground a ritual
diagram consisting of thirty squares, called kot.ha ̄.Various offerings are placed
in the squares, and a pandit is called over to recite the appropriate mantras. As
onevotaryexplained to me, observers of the vratsymbolically fill up the kot.h.a ̄
with spiritual merit, since it is said that any good deed done on this day carries
with it indestructible merit (hence the name, “indestructible ninth”). Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄
participants, however, use this particular ritual to exchange wedding invitations
among Ka ̄rtik vratı ̄s. In Benares, some kind of food gift may accompany a
wedding invitation, especially if you greatly desire the person’s presence at the
wedding. After the Aks.aya Navamı ̄pu ̄ja ̄is completed, participating women offer
each other prasa ̄dfrom the pu ̄ja ̄as a food gift while orally inviting one another
to the upcoming wedding.
For many Benarsi women, the marriage of Tulsi and Krishna is inextricably
woven into the devotional fabric of Ka ̄rtik of the whole. Some, for example, inter-
pret food restrictions associated with the Ka ̄rtik vratas commemorating the fast
that Tulsi undertook in ancient times to attain Krishna as a husband. One
informant described the festivities associated with S ́arat Pu ̄rn.ima ̄, the full-moon
night that ushers in the month of Ka ̄rtik, as a celebration of Tulsi’s engagement
to Krishna. On this night, it is said that nectar rains down from the moon, and
at nighttime many Benarsis place out on their rooftops white foods, especially
khı ̄r(rice pudding), to catch the nectar. The khı ̄rand other foods are then shared
among family members the next day as prasa ̄d, a practice that this informant
described as sealing Tulsi’s engagement to her future husband. Several inform-
ants claimed that Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄imitates a pu ̄ja ̄that Tulsi herself performed in
ancient times to win Krishna as a husband. Hence, many pu ̄ja ̄participants inter-
pret the entire month of Ka ̄rtik in relation to the marriage of Krishna and Tulsi,
and when the day of the marriage finally arrives on the eleventh of Ka ̄rtik’s
second fortnight, they celebrate it with great fanfare.
On the day of the wedding, after concluding the daily pu ̄ja ̄, participants clear
and purify a space for the mandap, the marriage pavillion, which is decorated
with bamboo branches. The groom, represented in this context by a brass mu ̄rti,
is brought to thepu ̄ja ̄circle, bathed, and dressed in finery. The bride, a potted
Tulsi plant, is also brought to the circle, dressed in a red wedding sari, and
adorned with tinsel, small mirrors, and other decorations. Gifts are placed before
the bride and groom and displayed as dowry offerings, and participants engage
in a raucous round ofga ̄lı ̄– abusive, often crudely sexual songs that women sing
at marriages. As in the janeu ̄, a male pandit is called in briefly to recite the appro-
priate mantrasand to collect the dowry items as da ̄n. The participants then
sprinklesindu ̄ron the bride’s “head” to mark her new, married status and throw
puffed rice at the newly wed couple.
Krishna’s wedding to Tulsi takes place on the eleventh of Ka ̄rtik’s light fort-
night, so the full-moon night that marks the end of the month is still several days
away. In Benares this is the period of the Bhis.mapañcak, the five days of
Bhıishma, when large, clay effigies of the hero are made and worshipped on gha ̄t.s
all over the city. For many Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄participants, however, these five days mark
336 tracy pintchman