Vivah Panchami celebrates the marriage of Rama and Sita. It is kept on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Margashirsha, in the cool season, and the greatest celebration is in Janakpur in Nepal, which tradition names as Sita’s birthplace and the site of the wedding, and in Ayodhya, Rama’s city. Temples of Rama across India and the world hold weddings of the deities on the day.
Month and tithi
The festival is the Shukla Panchami of Margashirsha, the fifth tithi, explained on the Panchami page. Both calendars name the bright fortnight alike. The festival comes a few weeks before Gita Jayanti and a few months after Dussehra.
The story
The Valmiki Ramayana and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas tell that King Janaka of Mithila had found Sita in a furrow of the earth and raised her as his daughter. He announced that whoever could string the great bow of Shiva would marry her. Many kings tried and failed. Rama, who had come with the sage Vishvamitra and his brother Lakshmana, lifted the bow and broke it as he strung it. Janaka sent for Dasharatha, and Rama and Sita were married with great celebration, and their brothers married Sita’s sisters and cousin on the same occasion. The account is told in the Bala Kanda in both texts, and the details vary between them.
How the day is kept
At Janakpur, the Janaki Mandir holds a procession of the groom’s party, the barat, which arrives from Ayodhya, and the wedding of the images is performed with songs, a mandap and a feast, drawing pilgrims from Nepal and India. Ayodhya and temples in Mithila, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh hold similar celebrations. Many households read the Bala Kanda of the Ramcharitmanas, the wedding passage, or sing wedding songs about Rama and Sita. The Ram Raksha Stotra and Shri Ramachandra Kripalu Bhaju Man are often recited, and Ram Navami is Rama’s own birthday.
An unusual custom is found in some parts of Mithila, where families avoid holding human weddings on this day. The reason given is that Sita’s married life, in the telling of the story, was marked by hardship and separation, and the day is therefore treated as a day for the divine wedding and not for others. This is a regional practice and is not followed everywhere.
How the day is fixed
The rule used here follows Drik Panchang: the festival is on the civil day on which Panchami is in force at sunrise; if it is in force at two sunrises, the first is taken. The table gives each city’s date with the times the tithi begins and ends.
Why cities differ
The tithi begins and ends at one instant, but sunrise is at a different clock time in each city. A Panchami that ends a few minutes before sunrise in one city is still in force at sunrise in another, which moves the day. The table shows each city, and the any-city tool gives other places.
A calm note
There is no fast required, and no ritual that cannot be done at home. A reading of a few verses of the wedding passage, a lamp and a plate of sweets are enough. Follow your own family and temple for the day.