Tulasī Upākhyāna (Devī Bhāgavata Purāṇa)

In the Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Tulasī is born as an aṃśa (part) of Śrī Lakshmī. She does tapas for Nārāyaṇa, who becomes her husband in the end, but not before she is first the wife of the great dānava Śaṅkhacūḍa. The account fills nine chapters of Skanda 9.

When Śaṅkhacūḍa is killed, Bhagavān Vishṇu comes to Tulasī in his form and breaks her fidelity as a wife. Tulasī then pronounces a śāpa (a curse) on Bhagavān Vishṇu that he will become a stone. He accepts it and gives her a vara (a boon): she will be the most sacred of all plants and will never be apart from him.

The birth of Tulasī

Dharmadhvaja was a great king. His wife was Mādhavī, who was beautiful, passionate and fond of pleasure. On the holy day of Kārtika Śukla Pūrṇimā, a Friday, Mādhavī gave birth to a daughter of rare beauty.

The child shone like the moon of śarad-pūrṇimā (the full moon of autumn). She had lotus eyes and coral lips. No one who saw her could compare her to any being they knew. Because she had no equal (tulya), the learned men named her Tulasī. She was an aṃśa of Śrī Lakshmī.

The Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa tells this in Skanda 9, Chapter 17.

The tapas at Badarī

From birth, Tulasī’s mind was turned wholly toward Nārāyaṇa. People tried to turn her away, but she went to the Badarī forest. This is the divine āśrama where Nara and Nārāyaṇa live. There she did tapas of great hardship and length:

• For twenty thousand years she ate only light food.
• For thirty thousand years she lived on air alone.
• For forty thousand years she stayed in water without a break.
• For fifty thousand years she stood on one foot under the burning sun and open sky.
• In all, her tapas ran for lakhs of divine years, in one stage after another of giving up the world.

Her one aim all through this time was to have Śrīmān Nārāyaṇa as her husband for ever. This too is told in Skanda 9, Chapter 17.

Nārāyaṇa appears and gives his word

Nārāyaṇa was moved by her tapas and appeared before her. His answer was both a promise and a condition. He said that in this same birth, before they could be together, she would first become the wife of the great dānava Śaṅkhacūḍa.

Śaṅkhacūḍa was very powerful. He wore as his kavaca (armour) the Vishṇu-kavaca that Kṛshṇa himself wore. As long as this kavaca stayed with Śaṅkhacūḍa and Tulasī’s pātivrā-dharma (her duty as a faithful wife) stayed whole, no deva could overcome him.

Nārāyaṇa promised Tulasī that after Śaṅkhacūḍa’s death she would be his for ever. She would live with him in Vaikuṇṭha, and also in the form of the most sacred plant in all creation. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 9, Chapters 17 and 18)

Tulasī and Śaṅkhacūḍa

Tulasī became the wife of Śaṅkhacūḍa. He was a mighty dānava king who had won a great vara and become ruler of the three worlds. Their married life was happy, and Śaṅkhacūḍa loved and honoured Tulasī with full devotion.

While Tulasī kept her pātivrā-dharma and Śaṅkhacūḍa wore the divine kavaca, the devas had no power against him. He ruled the three worlds, and the devas were driven from their places.

The devas went to Brahmā. He led them to Vishṇu, and then to Śiva. A plan was made. Vishṇu would go to Śaṅkhacūḍa in disguise and get the kavaca. Śiva would attack him in battle. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 9, Chapters 18 to 22)

The deception and the śāpa

The battle between the devas and Śaṅkhacūḍa’s army reached its turning point. Vishṇu came before Śaṅkhacūḍa disguised as a brāhmaṇa and asked him to give up the kavaca as a gift (dāna). Śaṅkhacūḍa was always generous. He took off the kavaca and gave it to the disguised Vishṇu.

At the same moment, Vishṇu took Śaṅkhacūḍa’s own form and went to Tulasī. She thought her husband had come back from the battle and welcomed him as her husband. In this way her pātivrā-dharma was broken, without her knowledge or consent.

Then she saw, by various signs, that the man before her was not her husband. She understood that Śiva had killed her husband and that Vishṇu had deceived her. Her grief turned into a just anger. She faced Vishṇu and pronounced a śāpa:

“You are stone-hearted and cruel. Therefore, become a stone!”

(Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 9, Chapters 22 to 24)

Vishṇu accepts the śāpa and gives a vara

Vishṇu accepted the śāpa with a calm mind. He said:

“Your śāpa is just, and I accept it. I shall become a stone, the Śālagrāma stone of the river Gaṇḍakī, and my devotees will offer pūjā to me for ever. Now hear what I give you in return. Your body shall become the most sacred of all rivers, the Gaṇḍakī. Your hair shall become the Tulasī plant. That plant, which is you, shall be dearer to me than anything in the three worlds. No pūjā offered to me without Tulasī shall be complete. No offering shall reach me without the touch of your leaves. You shall live with me in Vaikuṇṭha, and you shall also stay on earth as the plant that purifies the three worlds. Your presence turns any offering into the highest pūjā.”

Tulasī’s grief gave way to an understanding of the purpose behind all that had happened. She took her divine form and lived with Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha. At the same time she is present in the sacred plant that bears her name, in every home, every temple and every act of pūjā. (Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 9, Chapters 24 and 25)

What the account teaches

The Devī Bhāgavata shows Tulasī as a form of the Devī, namely Lakshmī, and not only a sacred herb. She went through tapas, loss, deception and a śāpa, and became the plant that joins all pūjā to Bhagavān Vishṇu. Her śāpa on Vishṇu is a righteous one, born of a real wrong, and Vishṇu himself accepted it. Through it his stone form, Śālagrāma, and her plant form, Tulasī, enter human pūjā for ever.

Sources

• Devī Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Skanda 9, Chapters 17–25