Tulsiतुलसी

Tulsi (तुलसी) is unique among Hindu goddesses in being wholly present as a living plant. The holy basil that stands in the courtyard of a traditional household is not a symbol of the goddess but the goddess herself, and her leaves are indispensable in the worship of Vishnu and Krishna, whose offerings are held incomplete without them. She is revered as Vishnu's most devoted consort, and her story is one of the tradition's darker meditations on devotion and its price.

Vrinda and Jalandhara

In the telling of the Padma Purana and allied texts, the goddess was Vrinda, the blamelessly chaste wife of the asura Jalandhara. Her fidelity acted as an armour: while it held, her husband could not be slain, and his power grew until the gods despaired. Vishnu therefore came to Vrinda in her husband's form, and her unknowing lapse broke the protection; Jalandhara fell to Shiva in battle. Discovering the deception, Vrinda cursed Vishnu to become a stone, whence tradition derives the śālagrāma, the fossil stone worshipped as his emblem, and gave up her body. From her remains, or by Vishnu's grace upon her, arose the tulsi plant, cherished thereafter as his eternal consort. Versions differ in detail, but all preserve the uncomfortable core: the god's victory required the breaking of a faithful woman, and his unending devotion to her is the amends.

Tulsi Vivah

Each year in the month of Kartik, on or after Prabodhini Ekadashi, when Vishnu wakes from his cosmic sleep, households and temples perform the Tulsi Vivah, the ceremonial wedding of the plant to Vishnu, often in the form of a śālagrāma stone. The rite traditionally opens the Hindu marriage season.

In the household

Tulsi's true temple is domestic: the vṛndāvana, the raised planter that holds her in the courtyard, watered each morning and given a lamp at dusk. Ayurvedic use of the plant runs alongside the worship without displacing it. Few deities are met so constantly at such close quarters; she is the pantheon at the doorstep.