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Kati Bihu · puja vidhi

How to do the Kati Bihu puja at home

The lean Bihu: a tulsi planted, and diyas lit at its foot, round the house and among the ripening paddy, to call Lakhimi home. About 60 minutes.

Every step is named here and the first 3 are given whole. The whole puja, every mantra with its meaning, is in the Kalava app.

Puja
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The house swept and the tulsi planted in the morning; Lakhimi Aai invited home from the paddy in the afternoon; at dusk the diyas at the tulsi, round the house, in the field and on the bamboo; and the naam into the night.

Kati Bihu

Morning · the house and the tulsi

7:46 AM · Columbus

The house and the path to the gate swept, the tulsi's bheti plastered, and a young tulsi planted on it.

  1. Morning

    Sweep the house and the path to the gate

    1. Sweep and clean the house.
    2. Sweep the courtyard, and the path out to the gate — the padulimukh (পদূলিমুখ).

    It is said that Lakhimi Aai dwells only in a clean house, and tonight She is invited home.

    Sweep the house and the path to the gate

  2. Morning

    Plaster the tulsi's bheti

    1. In front of the courtyard, or beside the granary, raise a small platform of earth for the tulsi — the bheti (ভেটি) — or clean the one already there.
    2. Mix earth and a little cow-dung in water, and plaster the bheti smooth.
    3. Wipe its edge clean.
    Plaster the tulsi's bheti

  3. Morning

    Plant a tulsi

    1. Plant a young tulsi in the middle of the bheti — a dark krishna tulsi or a white one.
    2. Where Tulsi Maa already stands, tend Her with care; plant a new tulsi beside Her only if the plant is weak.
    3. Offer water to the tulsi.
    4. In some homes an areca or a coconut seedling is planted the same morning.

    Of all the day's acts, the planting of the tulsi is the one every Assamese home keeps.

    Plant a tulsi
    1. Set up the bamboo

    This step, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Afternoon · Lakhimi Aai invited home

2:23 PM–4:35 PM · Columbus

At the edge of the paddy, with a sickle in hand, tamul-paan is offered to the ripening grain and Lakhimi Aai is invited home.

    1. Invite Lakhimi Aai home from the paddy

    This step, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Sunset · the diyas

6:48 PM · Columbus

A diya at the foot of Tulsi Maa and the sarai before Her; then a diya wherever the house keeps its grain, its cattle and its trees, among the paddy, and high on the bamboo.

    1. The diya before Tulsi Maa
    2. The sarai before Tulsi Maa
    3. A diya at the door and in the kitchen
    4. Diyas round the house
    5. Diyas among the paddy
    6. The akash banti

    These 6 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

Evening · the naam

7:15 PM · Columbus

Naam before Tulsi Maa; the village party singing from courtyard to courtyard; the sarai broken and its prasad shared.

    1. Naam before Tulsi Maa
    2. The naam comes to your gate
    3. At the namghar
    4. Share the prasad

    These 4 steps, with their drawings and mantras, are in the app

The samagri list