💍 Vivah Panchami (Ram-Sita wedding) 2026
Margashirsha Shukla Panchami — the wedding day of Shri Rama and Mata Sita; the festival of Janakpur and Ayodhya, a Ram-Sita wedding tableau at home and a vrat for a happy marriage.
Vivah Panchami is celebrated on the Panchami of the Shukla Paksha of Margashirsha (Agahan) month — about three weeks after Dev Uthani. On this day in the Treta Yuga, Shri Rama broke Shiva's bow in the court of King Janaka of Mithila and married Sita. Ayodhya, Janakpur (Nepal) and Mithila hold a grand Ram Baraat and wedding-leela on this day.
At home, women perform the wedding rite of the Ram-Sita idol/picture — dressing, garlands, wedding songs — and keep a vrat for a happy married life or a good husband. Below are this year's date, muhurat, vidhi, samagri, katha, bhog and regional customs.
Significance — why this vrat
The wedding of Rama and Sita is the symbol of the ideal marriage — the vrat of this day is kept to remove obstacles to marriage and to keep love between husband and wife. Unmarried girls keep it wishing for a husband like Rama.
The Dhanush-Yajna and wedding episode of the Bal Kand of the Ramcharitmanas is read on this day — with 'Mangal bhavan amangal hari' and 'Siya-Ram may sab jag jani'; completing a Manas reading is considered specially fruitful.
In Mithila this day is a festival of the sweetness between a daughter's home and her in-laws — Sita is Mithila's daughter, so here Rama is the 'son-in-law' and all the teasing of the baraat is in the folk songs.
Puja vidhi (step by step)
This is the household vidhi — the vrat sankalp in the morning, Manas reading in the day, the Ram-Sita wedding tableau in the evening.
- Bathe in the morning and take the sankalp — 'I keep the Vivah Panchami vrat for a happy marriage / a good husband.' Fruit or one meal during the day.
- A yellow/red cloth on a wooden seat at the puja place; install the idol/picture of Ram-Sita (or Ram Darbar); begin with Ganesha puja.
- Yellow clothes and a crown for Rama, a red chunari, bangles and sindoor for Sita — dress both like bride and groom; tilak, garlands.
- Read or listen to the Dhanush-Yajna and wedding episode of the Bal Kand (Ramcharitmanas); chant 'Sita-Ram' 108 times.
- In the evening, in the auspicious muhurat (Abhijit/Godhuli — above), the wedding-leela: wedding songs, garland both, the gathbandhan (tie the end of Rama's yellow cloth to Sita's chunari), lamp aarti 'Shri Ramchandra kripalu bhajman'.
- Bhog — kheer, panchamrit, fruit, yellow laddoos; distribute prasad. Homes where a daughter's wedding is fixed keep the gathbandhan knot as a blessing.
- Break the fast after the evening puja; Sundarkand/Ramayana bhajans at night.
Puja samagri checklist
If a Ram Darbar idol/picture is already at home, the rest of the samagri is small.
- Idol or picture of Ram-Sita (Ram Darbar), wooden seat, yellow-red cloth
- Yellow clothes/crown for Rama, red chunari, bangles, sindoor and small shringar for Sita
- 2 garlands, yellow thread/mauli for the gathbandhan
- Roli, akshat, turmeric, sandalwood, flowers (marigold-rose), Tulsi leaves
- Lamp, ghee, incense, camphor, aarti thali
- Kheer, panchamrit, fruit, besan/boondi laddoos, paan-supari
- Ramcharitmanas (Bal Kand), Sundarkand book
- Charity: yellow cloth/grain to a Brahmin or a girl
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Open panchang →Vrat katha (the story)
King Janaka of Mithila found a girl in the earth while ploughing and raised her as his daughter — she became Sita (Janaki). Janaka vowed that Sita would marry whoever could lift Shiva's Pinaka bow and string it. Kings came from every land; none could even move the bow; even Ravana and Banasura went back defeated.
Rama, who had come with Guru Vishwamitra, lifted the bow and it broke as he strung it — 'Bhare bhuvan ghor kathor rav'. Sita garlanded Rama. Dasharatha came with the baraat from Ayodhya; on Margashirsha Shukla Panchami Rama-Sita, Lakshmana-Urmila, Bharata-Mandavi and Shatrughna-Shrutakirti — all four brothers — were married in Janakpur.
Goswami Tulsidas sang this very episode in the Bal Kand — and reading or hearing this part of the Manas is believed to remove obstacles to marriage. By one view Tulsidas completed the Ramcharitmanas on this day, hence Manas Jayanti too.
Vivah Panchami bhog
Rama loves yellow and sattvik — kheer, panchamrit, besan-boondi laddoos, saffron rice. In Mithila a 'bhoj' on this day — dahi-chura, kheer, tilkut prasad.
- Bhog: kheer, panchamrit, saffron rice, boondi/besan laddoos, fruit, paan
- Fast: fruit and milk in the day; poori-sabzi-kheer after the evening puja
- Mithila: dahi-chura-jaggery, tilkut, kheer — like a 'son-in-law feast'
- Ayodhya-Janakpur: a bhandara of poori-pumpkin-kheer on the day of the Ram Baraat
- If a wedding is fixed, the two families send each other yellow sweets (folk custom)
Regional customs
This festival of Mithila and Ayodhya is kept in a small form in homes across North India.
A custom, tale, song or dish heard from your grandmother — 2-4 lines; after reading we add it on this page with your region's name (the phone is never shown — only to ask you back).
✅ Received — after reading we will add it on this page in 1-2 days. Thank you!Something went wrong — please try again.⏳ Sending…Do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Dress Ram-Sita as bride and groom; the gathbandhan without fail
- Read the wedding episode of the Bal Kand — special for those facing obstacles to marriage
- The wedding-leela in an auspicious muhurat (Abhijit/Godhuli)
- Unmarried girls keeping the fast should offer bangles and sindoor to Sita
- Donate something yellow
❌ Don't
- Holding an actual wedding on this day is avoided in many traditions (memory of Ram-Sita's separation) — check the muhurat page
- No black clothes in the puja
- Do not leave the Manas reading incomplete — finish the episode
- No tamasic food during the fast
- Do not throw away the gathbandhan knot — keep it at the temple/Tulsi
Frequently asked questions
When is Vivah Panchami in 2026?
The date at the top is this year's Margashirsha Shukla Panchami — from panchang calculations; the Abhijit and Godhuli muhurats (Delhi) are shown too.
Is it auspicious to marry on Vivah Panchami?
It is the wedding day of Rama and Sita, yet folk tradition avoids weddings on this day — because Rama and Sita had to bear separation; this belief is strong in Mithila and Awadh. See the muhurat page for auspicious dates.
Who should keep this vrat?
Married women wishing for a happy marriage, and unmarried girls wishing for a good husband; for obstacles to marriage, reading the wedding episode of the Bal Kand on this day is considered special.
What is Manas Jayanti?
By one view Tulsidas ji completed the Ramcharitmanas on this Vivah Panchami, hence Manas reading and remembrance of Tulsidas on this day.
What happens in Mithila and Ayodhya on Vivah Panchami?
At Janakpur (Nepal) the wedding procession of Rama and Janaki arrives from Ayodhya — the mandap, sindoor daan, kohbar, Maithili wedding songs, thousands of devotees; in Ayodhya the wedding tableau at Kanak Bhavan and the Ram temple, the wedding episode of the Ramlila; in the homes of Mithila Sita is regarded as a daughter and the songs of 'a daughter's farewell' are sung.
What remedy to do on this day if marriage is delayed?
Worship Rama and Sita in the morning and chant 'Om Janakivallabhaya Namah' 108 times, read the wedding episode of the Bal Kand of the Ramcharitmanas (from the bow sacrifice to the farewell), donate yellow clothes, fruit and suhag items to a married woman/girl, water a banana tree; it is believed that prayer on the wedding day of Sita and Rama removes obstacles to marriage — if the chart has Manglik/Venus-Jupiter dosha, a separate remedy from a priest.
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⚠️ This description follows traditional vidhi and folk belief; your own family custom comes first.
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