the month of ka ̄rtik and women’s ritual devotions 337the period between Tulsi’s marriage to Krishna and her departure with her new
husband to her sasura ̄l, her in-laws’ house, where the newlyweds are to take up
residence. Most of the pu ̄ja ̄ participants with whom I spoke understand the
sasura ̄lto be Vaikunth, the Vais.n.ava heaven that is usually associated not with
Krishna, but with Vishnu. During this time, women’s daily pu ̄ja ̄continues, but
nomu ̄rtisare made; the pu ̄ja ̄is done instead with a plastic or metal box. This
period ends on Ka ̄rtik Pu ̄rn.ima ̄, the full-moon night with which Ka ̄rtik draws to
a close. Ka ̄rtik Pu ̄rn.ima ̄ is celebrated with great fanfare in Benares as Deva-
Diva ̄lı ̄, the Diva ̄lı ̄ of the gods. As the full moon rises over the Ganges River, thou-
sands of lamps light the gha ̄t.sup and down the river along the city’s edge, and
boatloads of spectators float along the Ganges’s waters to enjoy the remarkable
sight.
Women who participate in Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄interpret the five days from Tulsi’s mar-
riage to Ka ̄rtik Pu ̄rn.ima ̄ as related to both the wedding itself and the ensuing
suha ̄gra ̄t, the night on which the marriage is consummated. According to many
informants, these days mark the period that Krishna and Tulsi spend in the
specially prepared Kohabar, a room in the house that is decorated in a special
way for the wedding and set up for wedding-related pu ̄ja ̄.In some Benaras
households, newlyweds exchange dahi-gur., yogurt mixed with raw sugar, in
the Kohabar of the bride’s natal home after the wedding before departing for the
bride’s sasural. I was also told that in parts of Bihar, the groom remains at the
bride’s house for nine days, and the suha ̄gra ̄t is celebrated in the Kohabar. Other
informants insisted that this period had nothing at all to do with the Kohabar:
instead, they said, Tulsi is too young to leave for her sasura ̄lat the time of her
wedding, so she remains at her natal home until Ka ̄rtik Pu ̄rn.ima ̄, the night of
hergauna, when the bride is ceremoniously brought from her natal home to her
huband’s home. In any case, many informants insisted that Krishna and Tulsi
consummate their marriage and depart for Vaikunth on the night of Ka ̄rtik
Pu ̄rn.ima ̄.
Tulsi, Radha, and Realms of Auspiciousness
Many of the women I interviewed in connection with the Ka ̄rtik pu ̄ja ̄insisted
both that Ka ̄rtik is the time ofra ̄sa-lı ̄la ̄with Radha and the gopı ̄sand that
Krishna leaves Radha for the month to spend the time with Tulsi and then marry
her, apparently without feeling that these two versions of events might be mutu-
ally incompatible. In casual conversation, informants even tended to collapse the
two into a single goddess and name them interchangeably as Krishna’s blush-
ing bride. Nevertheless, songs and stories associated with the pu ̄ja ̄paint a picture
of tension between Radha and Tulsi and describe their competition over Krishna.
Consider the following song, for example, which I recorded from the pu ̄ja ̄in
- In the song, Krishna appears wearing the garb and ornaments of a
groom, and Radha becomes suspicious.