The legend of Tulasi

The significance of the holy basil plant and why we celebrate Tulasi Vivah

Tulasi is a fragrant Indian herb that is highly revered in our culture especially amongst the worshippers of Vishnu and his incarnations. No puja to Vishnu or Krishna or Rama can be complete without the tulasi leaf. She is supposed to be the incarnation of Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu. The tulasi plant takes pride of place in most Hindu gardens. She has a special place made only for her in the centre of the courtyard or in a decorated pot inside the house. Actually, the tulasi is a medicinal plant which can be used in many concoctions for fever, cold, headache etc. The plant also has great spiritual vibrations. According to the Padma Purana, even the sight of the tulasi plant thriving in a home or garden brings an end to all bad karma. Lord Krishna is said to always reside in a house which has tulasi. A home where the tulasi thrives, also thrives! There is never a lack for anything in such a home.

We have kept one particular day on which the marriage (vivaha) of Tulasi is conducted with Lord Vishnu. This is performed on Prabhodini Ekadashi or the 11th day of the shukla paksha (bright half) in the month of Kartika (November/December). This year, 2022, it falls on November 4th. The ritual is given below.

The pot containing the tulasi plant is kept in the middle of the house and given a holy bath and decorated with auspicious objects like turmeric, vermilion, sacred thread, ornaments and flowers. The idol of Krishna or a saligrama stone is decorated with male attire and placed next to the tulasi plant before the preparations for the wedding begin. Those who are observing the vow keep a day-long fast and the vivaha (wedding) takes place in the evening. After invoking the presence of Tulasi and Krishna, the mantras are chanted and a cotton thread is tied round the statue or saligrama and the plant as a mark of the wedding bond!

However, the story of tulasi begins with Indra, the Lord of the Heavens.

Lord Indra, was the king of the devas (gods). He realised that people no longer looked up to him as the main god. People now looked up to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva to guide them. Indra knew that he could not hope to compete with Brahma and Vishnu. They were after all the gods of creation and of preservation. But Indra could not understand why people liked Lord Shiva. He was after all the god of destruction.

Indra decided to prove to the world that he was better than Shiva. However, he did not have the intelligence to realise that Shiva destroyed all evil things in the world including the ego!

Indra went straight to Kailasa to meet Shiva. However, Shiva transformed himself to look like his gana (attendant) and stood outside his own door. Indra pushed him aside and tried to enter. The guard stopped him and Indra tried to fight with him and was defeated. He realised that this was Shiva himself and fell at his feet and begged pardon. But Shiva’s anger emerged from his forehead like a ball of fire and fell into the sea. It was transformed into a baby who howled and howled. Brahma heard his cries and rescued him from the water and found him to be extraordinarily heavy. The baby pulled his beard so hard that water came out of his eyes. Brahma named him Jalandhara (one who brings water).

As he grew up he became stronger and stronger and eventually became the leader of the asuras. When he became a young man he went to another asura called Kalanemi who had a beautiful daughter called Vrinda. She was not only beautiful but highly intelligent and was a devotee of Vishnu. Kalanemi was happy to accept Jalandhara as his son-in-law. Vrinda was a loving wife who truly loved her husband and because of her chastity Jalandhara became invincible. Shukracharya, the guru of the asuras, realised how powerful Jalandhara had become after his marriage to Vrinda. He decided to crown him as the king of the asuras. Very soon all the kings of the earth were defeated by the powerful Jalandhara. After this he attacked the devas and defeated them. The devas did not know what to do and approached Brahma. Brahma told them that since Jalandhara was born out of Shiva’s anger, only he was capable of defeating him.

The devas begged Shiva to help them but even though Shiva went and tried to reason with Jalandhara, the haughty asura insulted Shiva and told him to give Parvati to him since an ascetic did not need a wife!

When Shiva attacked him, Jalandhara trapped him and his ganas in a snare of illusion. He then changed his form to Shiva and went to Kailasa and approached Parvati and tried to woo her. Parvati saw through his disguise and kept him at bay with her pointed sword. Jalandhara knew he would not be able to fight against her and ran away.

Parvati was still seething with rage when Vishnu came to her. She told him the whole story. Vishnu told her that Jalandhara’s power actually came from the force of chastity of his wife, Vrinda, who was his own bhakta and always prayed to him to protect her husband! Parvati begged him to defeat Jalandhara before he committed more atrocities. Vishnu reluctantly agreed to play the same trick on Vrinda as Jalandhara had played on Parvati.

Next day when Jalandhara set out for battle, Vrinda was sitting deep in meditation as she usually did when her husband went to fight. Suddenly she opened her eyes and saw her husband (as she thought) standing before her. He told her proudly that he had defeated Shiva! Vrinda thanked Vishnu mentally and prepared for the celebrations of her husband’s victory. At that precise moment Shiva was able to pierce Jalandhara with his trident, since he had lost all his powers because his wife was not doing tapas for his sake.

Vrinda immediately realised that something had happened to her husband who was apparently standing in front of her.

Turning to him she demanded to know who he was. Vishnu resumed his original form and stood before her in all his glory. Vrinda was stunned to see her god standing before her. But she was also frightened and asked him what had happened to her husband. Vishnu told her the truth that her husband had been killed by Shiva. Vrinda turned pale and from the depths of her sorrow she cursed her own favourite deity, “Since you stood like a stone while my husband was being killed, I curse you to become a stone.” Vishnu accepted her curse but replied, “Your husband was molesting all the three worlds and he even had the temerity to approach Parvati by taking on Shiva’s form! It was your duty to stop his inequities but you did nothing. He could never be killed as long as you were praying for him so I was forced to deploy the same trick he had played on Parvati!

Vrinda breathed her last in Vishnu’s arms. He was deeply grieved by the death of his devotee. Shiva approached him and told him not to grieve and blessed Vrinda that she would be born as the plant called tulasi which would be a great medicinal plant and would also be used in all Vishnu’s pujas. No Vishnu Puja would be complete without using tulasi leaves.

Due to Vrinda’s curse, Vishnu took on the form of the saligramas which are fossilised stones found in the Gantaki and Narmada rivers. Vrinda had cursed Vishnu that he would be separated from his wife and this is how in his avatara as Rama he was separated from Sita!

This is the legend of Tulasi and her vivaha or wedding with Vishnu is celebrated to this day in all Hindu households!

Aum Namo Bhagavate Vaasudevaaya!

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