Tulsi

Tulsi (plant) was a girl in her previous birth whose name was Vrinda, She was born in the demon clan. She was the daughter of Kalanemi. Kalanemi was a demon who was the ruler of Mathura.

Vrinda was extremely intelligent and she was a very great devotee of Lord Vishnu since childhood. She used to worship and serve God with great love. When she grew up, she was married to the demon king Jalandhar in the Rakshasa clan.

Jalandhar was born from the ocean. Lord Shiva, being a very powerful person, his anger was very potent, When all his anger was deposited in the ocean waves, the anger immediately transformed into a young baby! Lord Brahma picked up the baby and named him Jalandhar(One who brings water)

As Jalandhara grew up, he became more and more proud of his strength. He realized that he could defeat anyone with his strength. The Gods hoped that Jalandhara would join them and they could make use of his strength. However, Jalandhara had other ideas. He wanted to become the leader of the Asuras.

Vrinda was a very pious woman, always used to serve her husband. Because of her devotion to Lord Vishnu, Vrinda had an enormous amount of yogic powers. Vrinda loved her husband with all her heart and because of her, Jalandhara became powerful and invincible.

Once there was a war between the gods and the demons when Jalandhar started going to war, Vrinda said Lord, you are going to war, as long as you are in the war, I will sit in worship and perform rituals for your victory, and till you come back, I will take my pledge.

Jalandhar went to war, and Vrinda took the vow of fast and sat in worship, due to the effect of her fast, even the gods could not defeat Jalandhar, when all the gods started losing, they went to Vishnu.

When everyone prayed to Vishnu, then Vishnu started saying that Vrinda is my supreme devotee, I cannot cheat with her.

Then the gods said, God, there is no other solution - even now you can help us.

The next morning, as Vrinda knew that her husband would begin his battle with Lord Shiva, she started her prayers for his welfare. As she was deep in her meditation, she saw someone enter her room. She opened her eyes and was startled to find her husband before her. She blinked as Jalandhara came before her and told her with pride, 'I have done it. I have defeated Lord Shiva. Now there is no one as strong as me.' He said with pride as Vrinda thanked Lord Vishnu. She stopped her prayers to prepare for the celebrations for her husband's victory.

It was at that minute at the battlefield between Lord Shiva and the real Jalandhara that Lord Shiva stabbed Jalandhara straight in the chest with his Trishul. Without her wife's prayer to protect him, the weapon pierced into his body, killing Jalandhara instantly.

Back in Jalandhara's palace, Vrinda felt something wrong as she looked at her husband. She had felt something bad happen to her husband. But her husband was standing before her. How was that possible.

She looked at the Jalandhara and said, 'Who are you? You are not my husband. Where is he?' Vrinda looked around her palace with tears, 'I stopped my prayers. My husband... What happened to him?'

Jalandhara vanished from there and in his place stood Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu was looking at Vrinda with unhappy eyes and a sad face.

Vrinda looked at Lord Vishnu and glared at him and whispered, 'What have you done? How is my husband?'

Lord Vishnu spoke quietly, 'Jalandhara is dead, Vrinda' Vrinda let out a wail as Lord Vishnu continued, 'Your husband was becoming invincible because of your prayers, Vrinda...As long as you were praying for him, nothing could defeat him.'

Vrinda shouted at Lord Vishnu, 'I believed you and you let me down. I loved my husband and you tricked me. You stood like a stone, while my husband was dying in the battle, for this I curse you.' Vrinda said in an angry voice, 'I curse you that you will be trapped in a stone.'

Lord Vishnu nodded his head in a melancholy manner. 'I accept your curse, Vrinda. But remember, it was also your duty to stop your husband when he did something wrong. Your husband was behaving arrogantly and hurting others. He went to the extent of going to asking Lord Shiva to give up Goddess Parvathi.'

Vrinda looked at Lord Vishnu with wide fearful eyes as Lord Vishnu continued, 'Still, nothing happened to him, because your prayers protected him.'

Vrinda looked heartbroken as she fell. All the deities started crying and Lakshmi Ji started crying and praying, when Vrinda took her husband's head, she became sati.

Lord Vishnu was beside her looking at the dead face of his greatest devotee.

Lord Shiva and the Devas came and found Lord Vishnu sitting heartbroken beside a dead Vrinda. Lord Shiva came and told Lord Vishnu, 'Please do not grieve for her. She will be reborn as Tulsi, one of the greatest medicinal plants in the world. None of your prayers shall ever be complete without worshiping you with Tulsi leaves.'

Due to the curse, it is believed that the spirit of Lord Vishnu was captured in the stones near the river Gomti called 'Saligram'. These stones are considered as sacred because they are representations of Lord Vishnu. Since then, everyone started worshiping Tulsi And Tulsi' is married to Shaligram in the month of Kartik. It is celebrated as Tulsi Vivah on the day of Dev-Uthavani. It is also believed that Vrinda cursed Lord Vishnu to be separated from his wife and it was because of this curse that Rama [Vishnu'a avatar] was separated from Sita when she was kidnapped by Ravana, the King of Lanka.